Rangers of Shadow Deep - Solo and Cooperative Wargame (by the Creator of Frostgrave)

[Zink]

We've noticed a lot of variability in the difficulty of missions. Some were very easy and some gave us a good fight. We've only ever failed one scenario but without lucky rolls some others could have been bad. We've always played with 3 rangers and have upped the difficulty to help make it more interesting.

[MoebiusStrip]

12 hours ago, lowlylowlycook said:

too easy ... four players

 

In my experience it is primarily balanced around solo play. More ranges make it a lot easier since ranger are a lot better than regular dudes, and with 4 ranger all heroes act before the monsters, which usually means the closest monsters get dispatched before they can do damage. 

Furhter, missions leading up to the last mission often have monsters with disease which are not really dangerous themselves  but make the last mission much more dangerous. These monster often don't take much of a punishment and so can't touch the heroes due to the above point.

Thirdly, due to the nature of the rolls, flat distribution on the d20, the whole thing is rather swingy and often a lowly creature can take out a companion in close combat if it gets there.

 

I mostly play two player games and we restricted each ranger to pull up one companion in initiative, won't do much for 4 ranger though.

 

A possible (and simple) fix is this: if monsters appear, roll a d6, if it is less than the number of rangers double the number of monsters. This should make it easier for them to get into range. Note that I have not tried this so maybe needs tweaking.

Edited May 13, 2019 by MoebiusStrip
I accidentaly a word

[lowlylowlycook]

I hadn't really thought about the four rangers gaming the turn sequence.  Good point.  The zombies at least had a better chance of seeing some survivable rolls from the heroes.  I agree that the randomness of the the combat and the lack of any way to take casualties from earlier in the mission into account makes things hard if not impossible to balance.

 

I wonder if requiring, say, a Survival 8 test to set fire to the trees might make things a bit more interesting.  Here is a pic from mid game.  And yeah, a 4 isn't going to cut it 

 

     

 

 

 

[Zink]

Joe put up some playtest rules on the Facebook group that have ideas for rule changes for multiple rangers. We've started using them and they helped a lot for making the missions more challenging. Except the one that we got slaughtered in a few turns. We barely survived a second play of it without the boost. Lots of people didn't like the skill penalty so we've been playing that as no skill is just an unmodified roll. Not getting group activations is kind of disappointing but we still pile on to the monsters so a typical combat is 1 model attacks alone, 2nd model attacks with +2 gang up bonus, 3rd model attacks with +4 gang up bonus. Monster usually dies.

 

Here's the latest playtest rules.

 

Rangers of Shadow Deep Playtest Rules

Some players have reported that the game is a bit too easy when playing with 3 or 4 players. The following rules are an effort to bring greater balance to the scenarios regardless of the number players.

Activation
During the Activation phase, a ranger may now activate a specific number of companions, regardless of the proximity of that companion to the Ranger. The number of companions that may be activated is based on the number of players. See the table below.

Companion Activation Table
Number of Players Maximum Companions Activated
1                                                          2
2                                                          1
3                                                          0
4                                                          0
This means that in games with 3 or 4 players, no companions may be activated in the Ranger phase. In addition, it means that Group Activations in 3 and 4 player games are now impossible.

Skills
If a figure is ever called upon to make a Skill Roll for a skill they don’t possess (or have at +0) they may roll as normal but suffer -2 to the roll.
Increased Difficulty with 3 or 4 Players

If setting up a scenario with 3 or 4 players, and that scenario features an Event Deck, find the event that includes the most additional creatures appearing on the table. Places those creatures on the table as though the card had been played. Assemble and shuffle the Event Deck as normal (essentially meaning this event may occur twice in a scenario).

If the scenario features Room cards, when setting up a room, roll one die for each creature in the room. On a 11+ place another creature of that type right next to the first.

If the scenario doesn’t use an Event Deck or Room Cards, roll one die for each creature during set-up. On a 11+ place another creature of that type right next to the first.

[MoebiusStrip]

Funny, quite similar changes. The per monster doubling test is a good idea I think, but I would still up the change for more rangers a bit.

 

The skill change is a bit strange but I guess with more rangers this would get a lot easier.

 

What gets me is stuff like pick lock 10 or strength 15 to open doors. That is such a huge difference that a companion with strength+3 still would use pick lock. That kind of always bothered me a bit. But the -2 don't really fix that.

[Darsc Zacal]

There’s the new hardcover edition of Rangers of Shadow Deep coming out next month with some changes/improvements to the rules along with new artwork. 

 

It looks like it will be published by Modiphius but the current expansions will still be available from Drivethru RPG.

 

I’m hoping to finally get a version of the game, it’s been on my want list for quite a while but I haven’t ordered any yet.

I’ve been going through my minis, mostly from the Bones kickstarters, to find the minis I’ve read online that I’ll need for the first few scenarios. Looks like I’ve most of what I’ll need from the Bones kickstarters I’ve backed, but I’ll need to scrounge up or substitute some.

 

Even with some simple speedpainting, there’s quite a lot to paint.

[Zink]

1 hour ago, Darsc Zacal said:

There’s the new hardcover edition of Rangers of Shadow Deep coming out next month with some changes/improvements to the rules along with new artwork. 

 

It looks like it will be published by Modiphius but the current expansions will still be available from Drivethru RPG.

 

I’m hoping to finally get a version of the game, it’s been on my want list for quite a while but I haven’t ordered any yet.

I’ve been going through my minis, mostly from the Bones kickstarters, to find the minis I’ve read online that I’ll need for the first few scenarios. Looks like I’ve most of what I’ll need from the Bones kickstarters I’ve backed, but I’ll need to scrounge up or substitute some.

 

Even with some simple speedpainting, there’s quite a lot to paint.

 

ROSD and Frostgrave are the main reasons for a ton of painting and terrain making I did last winter. I haven't been able to get my 13 year old talked into playing with us in a long time so me and the oldest have been doing other things. On the fence about the new book but would definitely recommend trying it out sometime. Still don't have anything decent for giant flies because the plastic ones I ordered never showed up and we've moved past those missions now.

[Crowley]

I think I'll finally grab it with the new book. Maybe I'll even find some time to play it! 

[buckyball]

Figures for the Blood Moon scenario of Rangers of Shadow Deep.

[Darsc Zacal]

1 hour ago, buckyball said:

Figures for the Blood Moon scenario of Rangers of Shadow Deep.

Very nice. Where are they all from?

 

I did receive my copy of the new deluxe book.

Today I stopped by my FLGS and picked up some things I figured I’d be needing for my game.

 

I think I’m already set as far as the adventuring parties go... but I’ve heard these may be good to represent future adversaries.

 

 

[buckyball]

13 hours ago, Darsc Zacal said:

Very nice. Where are they all from?

 

 

The soldier guy Covin is from GW Dogs of war. The big guy Seb is a Johmsviking from Gripping Beast. The female archer Orla is from Darksword's Game of thrones line. And Nicolan the nobleman is from Paizo (I think). I might change the figure for Covin. I had picked that figure because it is left handed, and his right hand is partially hidden. When I reread the scenario it said his LEFT hand was missing fingers. Doh!

 

   buckyball

[Crowley]

Just got my deluxe hardcover! Can't wait to start playing! 

[Doug Sundseth]

 

On 2/22/2020 at 10:16 PM, Darsc Zacal said:

Very nice. Where are they all from?

 

I did receive my copy of the new deluxe book.

Today I stopped by my FLGS and picked up some things I figured I’d be needing for my game.

 

I think I’m already set as far as the adventuring parties go... but I’ve heard these may be good to represent future adversaries.

 

 

 

I have both those sets and quite like them to represent basic hirelings. Note that there is some ability to mix and match between the sets too. The Frostgrave Barbarians set is useful as well.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Doug Sundseth

[Zink]

I love the Frostgrave plastics and the fact they are all fairly compatible. They also go pretty well with some of the historical plastics from Gripping Beast and Fireforge. I use GB vikings and Fireforge crusaders bits or full minis for the guys with heavier armour.

 

Falling behind on my ROSD purchases lately. Haven't bought the last book (Incinerator), on the fence about the deluxe version book and haven't ordered the new minis I like yet. Bettletech last fall kind of killed my hobby budget for awhile.

[TheAuldGrump]

This is a deeply addictive game to play with your wife.

 

Just sayin'.

 

I enjoy the cooperative play a lot more than I had expected.

 

I think we will be teaching this to Brigid as her first real wargame, pretty soon. (Give or take three or four years.)

 

The Auld Grump