Blog-posted a big game of Shadows of Brimstone I played with my local gaming crew this week, and this time I incorporated Both Core sets. So all monsters, dimensions, and items were on the table from both Alternate dimensions. I wanted to play a game where we had no idea where we were going before we stepped through any portals. It was quite an adventure (lots of pictures below all the intro text, I promise).
In this game I used my recently-discovered alternative Brimstone soundtrack, which was a hit and highly recommended for when you get tired of the regular one.
Mission : Swamps of Death/City of the Ancients
Brimstone has 'missions,' in each Core set book, and interestingly there isn't a specific mission that is meant to incorporate more than one "Other World" yet. Not by the rules-as-written, anyway. However there is one mission that is nearly identical between 'Swamps of Death' and 'City of the Ancients.' It basically narrates that the posse is out to explore what lies on the other side of a portal that's been appearing in a nearby mine. That could apply to either dimension, so off we went to find out which one.
Objective : Get to another World and explore it by finding two Clue tokens while inside an Other world.
Characters :
<PERSON> (level 3)
<PERSON> (level 2)*
- <PERSON> the Marshal (level 2)*
<PERSON> the Gunslinger (level 2)
- Poncho the Bandito (level 1)
*Side Note: For narrative purposes the two Law class players decided to play as brothers.
As you can see, some of the players are better at naming their characters than others.
Clue tokens are pretty rare (especially since I stupidly mixed all the Encounter Tokens together from both Core Sets -- which you probably shouldn't do since it dilutes the chance you'll find a rare Clue token), so I realized this game could go on forever and have a ton of monsters spawn before we get all of the Clue Tokens. Still, when you're a Rootin'-Tootin' Monster-Hunting Cowboy Posse of Destruction(tm), you don't shy away from such a challenge. Plus by this time I had painted all the Hero minis, and as we all know a painted miniature never dies.
The mission also states that any Clue tokens you find in the mines automatically generate a Gate to another world, so at least any Clues found in the Mines won't be a total waste. (Note: Each Other World Core Book specifies which world you go to, but that is the one rule we decided to ignore and leave it up to the fates). 728
Our first goal was to find a portal as quickly as possible.
Big Dil @Everyone
"So get to the pictures already!"Okay, okay! So, right in the entrance of the mine someone decided to do some scavenging, and we were immediately set upon by a hidden flock (swarm? gaggle?) of Hellbats!I said I painted the Heros, no I haven't gotten to the monsters yet.
They were handily dispatched by bullet and Tomahawk. We continued deeper into the mine...
At which point <PERSON> suggested that the game pics might look more authentic when taken with a particular filter...Bam! Ready for Instagram.
Because nothing says "Authentic Old West" like sepia pictures of a board game.
We continued into the Mine. Note that we were also using the 'Advanced Rules' on the map tile cards, which adds an extra encounter to the room that is themed to the map tile (listed on the map card you drew), making the game even harder/more fun. When you get a 'named room,' you dig through the encounter cards to find that particular encounter card listed, then reshuffle the encounter cards to draw the remaining encounters randomly. Then you draw the number of encounters listed on the Encounter Token and add the named/themed one to the bottom of the little stack. You then must deal with all of the encounters (so if you drew a map tile with "Bloody Passage" on it and randomly drew an Encounter Token with "Encounter x2" on it, then you'd be facing three Encounters in total). ...anyway, I talk too much.
Deeper we go. Still no portals yet.
In this game one player carries the Lantern and that player has to "Roll Against the Darkness" at the beginning of each turn of the game. We gave it to the Gunslinger player to take care of since he always goes first anyway with his Initiative 6. More importantly, if you get more than one map tile away from the Lantern-bearer then you start to take Insanity Hits. 755