New game company

[Richard @ DGS]

Hey there. I ran into Silent Bob fishing for new recruits on another forum I frequent and thought I might pop over and give a sales pitch, but I didn't want to break any rules. so I am doing an abbreviated one here....if its ok, I will post more info.

My name is Richard and I am a staff designer at DGS Games (www.dgsgames.com....also on FaceBook). We're a fairly new miniature company that has just released a fantasy skirmish ruleset called Freeblades....some of you may have seen us at Adepticon (or Origins).

I'd love to tell you about our game and see if your group is interested. Bob had mentioned that some folks here playtest for other companies. Well, we're interested in active playtesters and also have a Quester Program (our name for Outrider/Pressganger).

If I get the "ok", I'll post more details, or you can just hit our site and take a look.

Thanks
Richard

[Silent Bob]

I am always interested in new games. Go ahead and post away.

[ogre44]

Hows about a link?

[Silent Bob]

you mean www.dgsgames.com ? Like what he put in his post? :-P

[ogre44]

Yeah, that one.

[Richard @ DGS]

Heh....thanks S_bob. ;D

Ok, here goes.

Background/Fluff - Freeblades is set if the World of Faelon. Our own fantasy world that has been developed over 30+ years of RPG sessions to become a pretty seriously detailed backdrop to game in. Lots of that detail is available on our website (www.dgsgames.com by clicking the Faelon icon in the upper left column).

Miniature Info - Most of our members came from a Historic Miniatures Background, so we decided to go with a "realistic" look instead of "heroic". But, that meant at 28mm Realistic, we looked too small to gamer's eyes that have been trained to think in heroic scale. So, we stretch our minis up to 32mm. Which makes that fit very well side by side with 28mm Heroic and still allows gamers to use all the terrain etc that they likely already own for their 28mm stuff.

Freeblades Basics - As I mentioned, its a Fantasy Skirmish games. Starter lists are 150pts which is also exactly what our starter boxes point out to. Typically this means 5-7 models to start. Most games happen in the 200-250pt range which brings you up to 8-12 models and your Freeband is hard capped at 18 models. Games can be played as 1 off games, or as part of Campaigns/leagues where you track injuries, advances etc (think Mordhiem/Necromunda for those familiar with those games). We have 17 factions planned currently that were all playtested together initially to help avoid "codex creep". 4 of those 17 were released with our Rulebook. The next 4 are already in playtest and will be released next year. Once both players have a working knowledge of the game, they should resolve in the 60-90 minute range depending on the BS to Dice Rolling ratio.

Game Mechanics Basics - We differentiate ourselves via our dice mechanics. We use 10 different dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d14, d16, d20, d24 and d30). Basic idea is Target Numbers (or TN) don't change, but as your model advances, he uses a larger dice. Peasants start at d4/d6, Heroes at d8/d10, Lts at d12/d14, Lords at d16/d20 etc. All dice spike (also called exploding) meaning if you roll the highest number available on the dice, you get to roll again and add. In addition, for each 10 over the target number needed, you get a critical effect.

Turn Flow - Another difference from many games is how the turn sequence works. Each turn, players roll initiative to see who goes 1st. But in each phase, the 2nd player will have options to react (ex. Your Highwayman charges my Hunter....I could counter charge and meet in the middle with both models getting a charge bonus....I could stand and shot and resolve a bow shot as you approach..... or I could evade away from your charge). The Action/Reaction flow gets both player involved constantly in every phase, so there is no "I'm going to the bathroom, go ahead and move your army". The excitement and pace of the game stays high.

Other general info - Freeblades is 1 of 3 interwoven rulesets. The other 2 are Brightsword (RPG) and Blademaster (army scale game). The mechanics of the 3 are such that models can be transitioned back and forth between scales as needed. Say, you are RPGing and your party of 5 get into a huge bar fight involving 30+ models. Resolving that fight in RPG mechanics is likely a 5+ hour session (probably 8+) as most RPGs are not meant to handle that many models easily. So, in 10min, you can move characters into Freeblades and fight it at a skrimish level in an hour and them move the survivors back into your RPG world.

We'd be willing to talk to folks about active playtesting (you will see a link to our NDA on our website). If folks like to write fiction, we are always open to fan fiction and will work with writers to learn our background, languages, races etc. There is tons of room to write fiction pieces in Faelon. We also have a Questor Program (or name for Outrider/Pressganger) if folks are interested in that.

I've probably babbled enough for now.....feel free to post questions here (I will check back and answer periodically), PM me or post them on our forums.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Thanks for listening

Richard @ DGS Games.

[GrumpyMonkey]

That sounds interesting, I am not usually one for Fantasy but it sounds interesting enough that I would like to get a demo.

It's the ends of days...Monkey is interested in a fantasy Game

[CmdrKiley]

The world survived Grumpy's foray with Warmachine, I think any other cases would simply be a Mayan calendar prediction.

[Richard @ DGS]

Jul 25, 2012 8:32:24 GMT -5 GrumpyMonkey said:

That sounds interesting, I am not usually one for Fantasy but it sounds interesting enough that I would like to get a demo.

It's the ends of days...Monkey is interested in a fantasy Game

Unfortunately, the migration from Kansas City to Detroit is a bit far to give a demo. The closest store that has our product is on the east side of St Louis (still a bit of a hike, I know).

Other options though are Gen Con (we'll have a large booth in the Entrepreneur area as well as tables in the Open Gaming area after the Vendor Hall closes) if you are heading down there.

[GrumpyMonkey]

Rorik,

Buy two sets so you can demo this for me

[paradox]

Was probably going to happen anyways.

[Rorik]

Jul 26, 2012 6:58:47 GMT -5 paradox said:

Was probably going to happen anyways.

Damn! You guys are on to me.

I looked at the miniatures at Origins and liked them. The only thing that was keeping me from picking up a set was I just haven't been playing mini games much reciently. Not that this has ever stopped me in the past.

Maybe it was just the flu I had while at Origins. Yeah, that must have been it.

[Richard @ DGS]

Jul 27, 2012 19:10:34 GMT -5 Rorik said:

Jul 26, 2012 6:58:47 GMT -5 paradox said:

Was probably going to happen anyways.

Damn! You guys are on to me.

I looked at the miniatures at Origins and liked them.

Glad you liked em...we're kinda proud of them ourselves. Did you get a chance to try a intro game and get a feel for the mechanics?

If you are going to Gen Con, you will have another shot at picking some up....hopefully you won't have the flu this time.

[Richard @ DGS]

We just came back from a *great* Gen Con.....met lots of new people.

We also just launched a Kickstarter Campaign last week and already 60% of the way to our goal, so it looks pretty certain to go the distance. A great way to get some figures at a discount and support a small company.

You can get several things (both the proposed faction and the existing line of figure) at slightly discounted rates plus free shipping.

The faction we are developing are the Urdaggar Tribes of Valor.....martial aspect of Vikings combined with the spiritualism of American Indians. Concept art is done for most of the figures and available on the site.

[Silent Bob]

Very cool!