Let’s Play Over War! Part 2: Tax, Trouble, and Tactics
Let’s start the adventure! Samael’s Unit is roaming the Ancient Peaks, looking to liberate the region from the Over Night.
First, let’s check if the scenario starts during day (1-3) or night (4-6):
D6 = 3, day (I’m changing it to morning)
Day 1 - Morning
We can move around the map a number of hexes equal to our Commander’s Movement stat. After 6 Units activate, we change the time cycle (morning <> night).
Samael’s Movement is 1. Luckily there is a settlement adjacent to us, Hammerfels, so I’m moving there.
The first time we enter a settlement hex, two things happen. We automatically “capture” the settlement, making it friendly toward us, and we get a Divination Card!
These are consumables usable at any time during combat, even interrupting enemy’s actions. They carry over between scenarios and can save a run from disaster.
There are 24 different Divination Cards (ace to six from each suit of playing cards). Let’s see which one I get:
3 of Wands: Increase any magic damage your characters deal by +1 for the rest of this combat.
Cool! Hopefully I’ll use it at some point, but we all know that the correct procedure is to hold it forever, just in case we might need it next time. Good consumables are for collecting, not using, right? Right?
Anyway. Mechanically, settlements are for healing our Unit, including Knocked Out characters, Restructuring (adding or removing characters. On normal hexes, it’s only possible to change formation), and unlocking temporary characters. All towns count as Inhabited hexes.
I think I might change this being temporary. The only way to unlock permanent characters is during Downtime via Complex Advancement, at the end of scenarios (we’ll get to it), by building a specific upgrade in our War Camp. I think that adding unlocks in settlements can be fun and won’t break progress.
Pre-made scenarios have all this ready for the player: settlements with clear quests, unlocks, consequences to Repute, items gained, story hooks, etc. But what to do when soloing? Well, we either decide on all those things beforehand or generate them as we go. That’s the roleplaying portion of Over War, and you can make it as simple or as deep as you like.
Let’s flesh out Hammerfels with tables from the book:
Who lives there? 2d6 = 7, Humans
How do they feel about your presence? 2d6 = 4, You must prove your intentions first
Government type D6 = 1, Council
Main industry 2d6 = 5, Farming
Main conflict 2d6 = 7, Over Night Tax Collectors
The Council at Hammerfels distrusts a noble from Under Heaven. The populace is tense and suspicious toward Samael and the others.
I wanna assure them that I’m not just another warband passing by, that I intend to help those suffering under the oppression of the Over Night. I’ll use Noblesse Oblige (2) to convince them I’m on their side. I’m starting with a TN of 8.
Noblesse Oblige: Identifying political factions or recalling their motives. Requesting aid from the powerful or offering aid to the downtrodden. Bargaining with enemy soldiers for small things, such as a brief cessation of hostilities. Sparing a foe or seeking information from a prisoner.
Noblesse Oblige check 2d6+2 = 11, success!
Nice! They believe my words and are a little more open to Samael and company. They reveal they’ve been having problems with tax collectors from the Over Night. They don’t want to use violence to deal with it because that would bring even worse problems.
I want more details about that. I’ll roll on the Action and Theme tables for inspiration.
Action + Theme = Antagonize + Friend
I like that. But I wonder if those are related to the farmers or the Over Night. Time to use the Oracle.
In Over War, the Oracle uses 3d6. For standard chances, a 10 or above is a yes. We also roll an extra die. If it shows a 1, we get a Complication.
Is it related to the farmers? 3d6 Oracle = 9, No.
Extra die = 1, Complication!
D6 Complication = 1, Roll a D6. On a 1-3, there’s a flash of bad luck. On a 4-6, there’s a flash of good luck. D6 = 5, good luck!
We’re on fire! I’m going to rule that the good luck translates to a +1 on our next Skill check.
So the Antagonize + Friend is related to the Over Night. Maybe there are two separate groups collecting taxes from Hammerfels. These other creatures came later, hearing how the crops are bountiful, and wanted in. Knowing they would be in trouble if the first group found out, they threatened the farmers into silence. The settlement is slowly bleeding dry. Soon the residents will not only be unable to pay, but will starve.
My plan is to wait for the original group to come, explain the situation, and help them deal with the mooches.
I’ll roll a d6 to check how long I have to wait until they come.
D6 = 3
Three Units will activate during this time. I’ll decide randomly for that.
Enemy Units either go for objectives, settlements, or players. The Units activated were numbers 5, 6, and 3. 5 went for Highbridge, capturing the town. It becomes a Hostile settlement. I can recapture it by moving onto its hex. Unit 6 moved into the forest. This Unit has a Movement of 2, but Forest hexes reduce it by -1.
Unit 3, on the other hand, moved south onto a Road hex. Roads grant +1 Movement, activating up to twice during an activation. They moved 2 hexes south and are coming for Hammerfels.
If an enemy takes a settlement after we’ve captured it first, that settlement becomes permanently Hostile. If we end a turn on it, all characters suffer 1 Magic damage.
Ok, what if Unit 3 coming are the opportunists? I think that works!
The tax collectors come for their pay. They don’t like being approached by a group stinking of Under Heaven.
Reading the description of Noblesse Oblige, we can see that it’s a valid Skill to negotiate with the enemy. But I think I’ll go with Arcane Wisdom (2) here. I’ll keep the TN 8. We also get a +1 from our good luck before.
Arcane Wisdom: Knowing facts about magic or arcane beings. Remembering lore from ancient books. Behaving appropriately before monsters and gods.
Arcane Wisdom check 2d6+3 = 13, success!
Note: I’ve been rolling Skills wrong. It’s supposed to be 3d6 instead of 2d6. Went hardcore mode for a while.
Awesome roll. I tell the monsters about the situation with the incoming group and convince them that bleeding the settlement is eventually gonna affect their Unit.
I propose we set up a trap and deal with the mooches. Do they agree with that?
Oracle: Yes
Tactics check, TN 8 3d6+2: 10, success!
The trap is successful and we manage to ambush the Unit as they enter Hammerfels. Ambush is an event that can happen during Patrols (a different game mode). The enemy attacks and our Unit can’t react. So let’s do the same against the opponents.
Combat
Here’s how combat works in Over War. When we create our Unit, we must assign our characters into a formation. That can be changed anywhere and at any time, except during combat. Here are the formations for this combat:
We can put our characters anywhere on the front or back row. When combat starts, the attacker acts first. The order of acting is leftmost in front row, moving to the right, then leftmost in back row, moving to the right. So simply, moving from 1 to 6 or A to F in order (check the image).
Acting always alternates between player and enemy. After a character on one side acts, the turn goes to the other side. As this is an ambush, the enemy won’t act.
The first to act here is Samael, positioned on Slot 1. Their attack reads Furthest, 3 Magic damage. That means Samael hits the furthest slot on his column for 3 Magic damage. That’s Slot D. However, there is no character there. The targeting moves to the right until an opponent is found. Samael then attacks Slot F and knocks out the Troubadour.
The Flurry trait makes Samael attack again. No enemy on D through F, so now the targeting moves to the next row, leftmost slot. It hits the Banshee, knocking them out.
That ends Samael’s turn and also the combat. If any enemy were still standing, it would be their turn to act (in a normal combat, not in this ambush).
The attacks would alternate until all characters acted, ending the combat. It would go: Samael > Banshee > Velon > Troubadour > Annabel (healing) > Maiswer > end of combat.
That’s right, battles last until all characters act once, not until death.
After that, we tally up Victory Points (VP). Knocking out a character grants 1 VP, and a Commander 3 VPs. The Unit with the least VPs retreats. If it’s a player, we have to move 1 square in the opposite direction of the enemy. If the enemy retreats, their Unit is Disbanded (removed from play). On a tie (if no characters are knocked out, for instance), both Units retreat, and a normal enemy Unit is Disbanded.
Unit 3 was created randomly, including its formation, and we can see it’s pretty weak for our band. Be that as it may, combat is won and Unit 3 is Disbanded!
If any part of combat was confusing, that’s on me, and I apologize. It’s a pretty straightforward system, with a lot of possible combos between characters. Let me know if I can make something clearer.
Alright, we’ve dealt with the Hammerfels problem! Seeing as they’re a farming settlement, they’re gonna give us some crops (translated as d6 Rations).
D6 = 5!
Not bad! Helping the folks at Hammerfels grants us +1 Repute. Repute starts at 0 and ranges from -10 to +10. It represents how the population sees our Commander and Unit, and doesn’t necessarily mean we’re evil or good.
Besides its roleplaying use, Repute allows the recruitment of different characters that require a positive or negative amount.
Finally, one of the farmers is inspired by our actions and asks to join our efforts in restoring Ballark. We unlock the Pawn character!
The collectors move away, but Hammerfels will keep paying them taxes. Let’s say that they’re using it for their war effort, to maintain the siege on Castle Wintermarsh. Liberating the castle will also destroy these creatures and free Hammerfels. That sounds good, doesn’t it?
Whew, that was a lot for only 1 hex moved. But there was a lot to explain, and like I said, we can do as much roleplaying as we want. I know a lot of people are way better at this than me, but I like this more minimalist style.
You can also play a hexcrawl adventure where every hex contains an event, hook, battle, or whatever. Over War doesn’t have a system for that (there’s something similar in Patrol mode), but that would be a very cool addition.
That’s it for this session. I really hope you enjoyed it. All feedback is very much welcome, and let me know if I can help you with anything, specially if you have a campaign going.
Over War: Monarch Edition is available on DTRPG.