does anyone have any videos of them playing swordplay?

[wargamesn3wb]

I'm having a hard time with the rules and find I always learn a game much better when I watch a demonstration. Does anyone have videos of them playing? if not does anyone know where I could find a video of someone playing swordplay?
Thanks,
A huge newb to wargames

[atomicfloozy]

I don't know of any videos, but before any of us can help, we need to know which version of Swordplay do you have? The game mechanics have changed some over the years making some of the versions slightly different.

[wargamesn3wb]

Right now I'm looking at the swordplay 2018 rules.

[atomicfloozy]

Where in the rules are you getting stuck?

[atomicfloozy]

My search didn't turn up any videos, but I did find an AAR (After Action Report) or Battle Report on the 2 Hour Blog:

Explore! Swordplay 2018 AAR

[wargamesn3wb]

oh sweet this reminds of me of time reading brikwars reports. those were good times. thank you!

[wargamesn3wb]

also the rules I'm having trouble with is 0d6 and passing a 1d6 or 2d6 or so
what does passing mean and what does 0d6 mean?
edit: NVM on the passing thing, but what does 0d6 mean?

[atomicfloozy]

Ok, passing d6 is one of the basic & probably the most used game mechanic. When you want to do something in an RPG or tabletop game, the game master or the rules will have you roll dice to see how successful you were in attempting the action you want to perform.

In Swordplay, passing d6 means to roll a result on each die equal to or lower than the character's Reputation, Rep. Let's use Casting a Spell as an example, suppose you have a Caster, Circe, who is a Rep 4 character. If Circe is a player character, a character played by one of the players in you game, she can choose which of the 3 types of spells to cast. If she is not a player character, but an NPC - say you are the leader of a group of adventurers & Circe is a member of your party, then you need to roll 2d6 to determine the type of spell she is casting.

So on page 24 you will find the Casting tables. If Circe is a NPC you first roll 2d6 on the NPC casting table. You roll t2d6 and the result is a 4 & a 2, both die are equal to or lower than her Rep so whe has passed 2d6, which means the NPC will be casting Damage spell. If the result of the roll had been a 5 & a 2, she would have passed only 1d6 because the 5 is higher than her Rep - that means Circe is casting a Dazzle spell. Now, passing 0d6, this occurs when the score of both d6 is higher than the character's Rep. In this case if Circe rolled a 6 and a 5, she has passed 0d6 & will be casting a Defend Spell.

In actually casting a spell Circe again rolls 2d6. The number in the top left hand of the table's title tells you how many d6 to roll. Circe scores a 3 and a 1 - passing 2d6, the spell is a success. If she rolled a 5 and a 1 - passing 1d6, the spell is a partial success. And finally, if Circe scores a 5 and a 5 - passing 0d6, the spell fails.

[wargamesn3wb]

So i'm confused. it seems the higher rep a character is the easier they are to hit because the lower you need to roll
IE a rep 5 would be easier to hit than a rep 3 because you need to roll a 3 or below to hit a rep 3 which is a smaller dice pool than what attacking a rep 5 offfers.

[atomicfloozy]

So if a Rep 5 character is in melee with a Rep 3 character - suppose a Rep 5 Knight versus a Rep 3 Skeleton, you use the melee table on page 25.

Each character rolls 2d6 against its own Rep - the Knight needs to roll 5s or less to hit the skeleton while the skeleton needs to roll 3s or less to hit the Knight.

The Knight has a better chance of passing both of his d6 since he has a higher Rep, while it is more difficult for the Skeleton.

For example, if the Knight rolled a 4 & a 1, the Knight passed 2d6 and if the Skeleton rolled a 5 & 4 and passed 0d6 - you look on the Results table, the Knight passed 2 more d6 than the Skeleton, so the Skeleton is obviously dead.

Now, if the Knight rolled a 5 & a 3, passing 2d6 and if the Skeleton rolled a 4 & a 3 passing only 1d6 then you would go to the section on the Results table that says Pass 1d6 more, the Knight is not a Shooter or Caster, so you would roll 1d6 trying to score higher than the Skeleton's armor class (AC), if the score is higher, the Skeleton is Out of the Fight - otherwise you fight another round of melee this time the Skeleton's Rep is a 2 & the Knight's Rep is still at 5.

It is easier for a higher Rep character to hit a lower Rep character because the characters roll agains their own Reps.

[wargamesn3wb]

DUDE I FEEL LIKE A MASSIVE BRAINLET NOW

[atomicfloozy]

Is that good or bad?

[wargamesn3wb]

brainlet is a term that is basically slang for someone who's a dumbass
so yes very bad but at the same time good because now everything makes sense

[atomicfloozy]

That's the way most games are to me - they're confusing until you have an Aha! Moment. I had trouble wrapping my brain around the rules way back in the days befor there was a forum. Got to play in a game put on by Ed at a one day game convention and suddenly everything made sense.

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

May 18, 2019 23:54:11 GMT wargamesn3wb said:

brainlet is a term that is basically slang for someone who's a dumbass
so yes very bad but at the same time good because now everything makes sense

Nah, no brainlet. Here's why. THW games are really different than other games - except for the few that have started to copy THW - so it can be hard to catch on the first few times. That's why we have the forum to answer questions. Videos would be good, and I'm trying to get some together, Just so much to do over here when it comes to releasing new rules. Floozy has the answers. More questions come up, just ask away.