Journeyscape 2nd Edition

[Dr.Phibes]

Hello,

My name is Dr. Phibes and I've been a long time lurker. Recently I discovered a good base foundation for an RPG expansion that works with the Heroscape and AOTP systems.

That foundation was Level Scape by McMeeple. Without his original work and 'Character Sheet' design, none of this would have been possible, Thank you, McMeeple. Please, visit his initial post for the 'Character Sheets' which are used in this system. https://www.heroscapers.com/communit...00#post2130100

Enjoy! And feel free to leave any feedback.

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Player’s Manual:

Written By: Dr. Phibes (Heroscapers)
Based On Level Scape By: McMeeple

Players: 3+

Hello, righteous believers!

Welcome to Journeyscape 2nd Edition. What is this you may ask? It’s an RPG add-on system for the ‘Arena of The Planeswalkers’ and the ‘Heroscape’ games. It’s a simple system to understand, this add-on is split into two sections.... Player’s Manual & DM’s Manual. Besides the new rules within, nothing else has changed. So, an AOTP or Heroscape rule book is required.

What is the core theme for this add-on system? Well, it’s teamwork!

You heard me right, folks!

Teamwork!

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Character Creation:

(Editor’s Note: For the character sheet, please visit McMeeples original Level Scape post. A link should be provided in the post where these rules are located.)

A player may pick a Planeswalker or Unique Hero (Custom or Official) to play as for this add-on....

Planeswalkers have the advantage of summoning and using spells. If you picked a Planeswalker, make your 200-point deck. The color(s) of the chosen Planeswalker is your color(s) for this add-on. As a Planeswalker, the point count for your deck will go up when you reach a certain level.

Level 20 = 250-Point Deck
Level 30 = 300-Point Deck
Level 40 = 350-Point Deck
Level 50 = 400-Point Deck
Level 60 = 450-Point Deck

Unique Heroes have the advantage of using Flying, Super Strength, or both as a free trait.

Each team will consist of three or more players. The group may have any number of teams but cannot swap characters between teams unless the characters are the same level. Custom cards must be approved by the DM.

The chosen card determines your class, race, stats, traits, skills, height, and attributes. Base your alignment on what you believe the character to be.

Examples:

Iron Man (Tony Stark)

Class - Unique Hero
Race - Human
Alignment - Good
Attributes – Adventurer/Arrogant
Height – Medium 5
Stats – These stay as they are until leveling up.
Traits – Double Attack (Wording Stays The Same)

(Traits must be special power's not special attacks. Consult your Heroscape manual for these definitions and how they affect attacking.)

(Flying & Super Strength are the advantages of being a Unique Hero and don’t count as traits. Iron Man may have up to two more traits and may create up to six skills.)

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Now, let’s do a Planeswalker which is trickier.

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Arlinn Kord, Goldknight Outcast

Class - Unique Hero
Race – Human (When Not Transformed) / Werewolf (When Transformed)
Alignment - Neutral
Attributes – Archmage/Tormented (Determined By Her Bio)
Height – Medium 4 / Medium 5 (Werewolf)
Stats – These stay as they are until leveling up.
Traits – (Re-Worded for Journeyscape)

ARCHMAGE'S ASSUALT
At the end of Arlinn Kord's turn, if a figure was destroyed this turn, you may deal 1 damage to a figure within 7 clear sight spaces of Arlinn Kord.

TRANSFORM
When the Moon counter is visible, you may change to your werewolf form. Replace this figure with a Werewolf Figure.

Werewolf Form

As a werewolf, you have certain bonuses plus two traits and two skills which can be used like usual. These can be used if you stay a werewolf and do not require skill points to learn.

Stats:
+ 2 Attack
+ 2 Defense
+ 2 Move

Your range (If any) becomes 1.

Traits:

HOWL
At the end of this werewolf’s turn, if it dealt combat damage this turn, choose another werewolf on the board. Put a +1 attack counter on that werewolf until it uses 'Transform'.

TRANSFORM
When the Sun counter is visible, you may transform back to your original form. Return the replaced figure.

Skills:

Lash Out (Special Attack)
If you're adjacent to any figure, you must roll a D20. Roll a D20 for each adjacent figure.
1-5 Nothing Happens
6-10 That figure takes 1 damage.
11-20 That figure takes 2 damage.

Curse
If you dealt damage to a Planeswalker or Unique Hero last round. That Planeswalker or Unique Hero must roll a D20.
1-17 Nothing Happens
18-20 That Planeswalker or Unique Hero becomes a werewolf. Take a werewolf sheet and attach it to your character sheet. Add this trait to your character sheet...

TRANSFORM
When the Moon counter is visible, you may change to your werewolf form. Replace this figure with a Werewolf Figure.

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From here you must create six skills to learn as you level up. Your skills must be approved by the DM and Team. Skills can be based on unused traits or another card's special powers and special attacks. When creating these skills, also note, they must always be stacked by weakest to strongest skill. This also applies to the levels within. All levels should increase the strength of the skill. There are always three levels to a skill unless otherwise stated by a DM. Skills work under the ruling of special powers and special attacks. Remember to mark skills that are special attacks as such.

Example:

BATARANG (SPECIAL ATTACK)
Range X Attack X
When Batman attacks with his Batarang, he may attack 2 additional times. He can attack the same figure more than once.
Level 1: Range 5 Attack 3
Level 2: Range 6 Attack 4
Level 3: Range 7 Attack 5

(Editor’s Note: Make sure to include skills that could benefit the team. You never know when you may get in a tight situation.)

Alignment can be either Good, Evil, or Neutral. Good characters can’t be on evil teams, Evil characters can’t be on good teams. Neutral can be on good or bad teams.

Stats will change when leveling up, stats are again based on which character you have chosen. If your range is one, it never goes up.

Basically, a non-range character can’t become a ranged character.

When establishing a new character, you start at Level 1 unless mid-campaign. See ‘New Players Rules’.

Custom Creation:

Choice your name, class, race, alignment, attributes, and traits. Traits can be from other cards or created from scratch just like skills. To determine your stats, roll seven D6’s in six rows and cross out the two highest numbers in each row. One’s may be re-rolled. Pick a row and that’s your base stats. Then create your traits and skills.

(If you’re a Planeswalker make your 200-point deck and pick your color. You may be up to two colors.)

Optional & Mandatory Mechanics For Characters:

Say a player wants to be a werewolf. Werewolf is your race when transformed and the ‘Transformation’ trait is mandatory.

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Transformation:

When the Sun/Moon counter is visible, you may change to your regular/werewolf form.

The player is given the werewolf form found above. A werewolf has two traits and two skills that are not learned, they can be used only when a player is in werewolf form. You also have a certain number of bonuses added to your stats.

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If you use a Superhero or other character that has a secret identity you may have the ‘Change’ trait which lets you change to it.

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Change:

At the start of your turn, you may change.

You have two traits and skills like a werewolf, an additional piece of paper should be kept to know what these are.

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Round Markers:

Round Markers are essentially re-used Order Markers and act differently. Each player has four round markers (1-3 and X). Every three rounds they may change these markers to suit team strategy. Each marker represents what figure(s) you will use for the round. Round Markers are not required in every game.

Rounds:

There are two types of rounds. Normal Round & Story Round.

Normal Rounds consist of two turns:

Turn 1: Team’s Turn

The team moves together and may only move the figure(s) which they picked for the round, if Round Markers aren’t used in this game then they only move their character. If the DM is using his Hero (See DM’s section) to assist the team, this would be the turn in which he moves that character. Attack & Movement work as stated in the Heroscape & AOTP rule books.


Turn 2: DM’s Turn

The DM makes all his moves and attacks this turn. For a fully detailed DM turn, please, consult the DM’s Manual.

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Leveling Up/The “No Exp. Hog” Rule/New Players:

Each Player must earn X experience points to attain one skill point

Level 1-15 = 3 Exp.
Level 16-30 = 6 Exp.
Level 31-45 = 9 Exp.
Level 46-60 = 12 Exp.

Skill Points can be used for either a stat increase, trait, or skill level.

Exp. Points are earned as follows:

1 point for every two kills

X points for a completed game (DM’s ruling).

No Exp. Hog:

Each team member must level up for the team to keep progressing. Once you reach say ‘Level 3’ and the team is still at ‘Level 2’, your Exp. Is halted until the rest of the group is also ‘Level 3’.

New Player Rules:

Say a friend wants to join for a single game, these are the rules for that situation.

The new player starts two levels below the rest of the team, if the team is level two then that player instead starts at level one.

If this happens, the ‘Exp. Hog’ rule is altered. Instead of say being level twelve like the rest of the team, the new player can be at level 11 for Exp. To resume.

These rules also apply to team members knocked out in the previous game.

Resurrection & Death (Knocked Out):

If a character dies, the team goes back one level. This doesn’t affect the used skill point for that level but it does mean you won’t receive a skill point again for that lost level. This rule goes into effect when the team reaches level 20.

If in the rare case the character is revived, the above penalty is null.

If a team member stays dead, they return the next game one level lower then the team.

Winning:

How a game is won, depends on what 'Winning Conditions' are set for scenarios that are established by the DM.

In-Game Mechanic(s):

Sun & Moon Mechanic:

A game can either be based during the day (sun) or night (moon) or both.
If both are used, the sun is only visible for the first half of the game and the moon is used for the other half. This can be used in any order.

Players may base traits or skills on this mechanic as well.

Building the Sun & Moon Counter:

This can be done in any sort of manner as long the sun and moon, are on separate bases and mounted high enough for players to see... Or they can be tokens.


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DM’s Manual

The first thing a DM must do in Journeyscape is create a story, small or grand.... It doesn’t matter.

The Basics:

Civilian/Town Folk NPC’s: These type of NPC’s alignment will be Good and they have no traits. They only attack if a player attacks them first.... If this happens then they become Enemy NPC’s and there alignment switches to Neutral.

Enemy/Ally NPC’s: These NPC’s can attack and retain one trait from their card, if it is a custom NPC.... Create one trait or use one trait from a similar card. Ally NPC's can be any alignment. Enemy NPC's can be either Evil or Neutral. To determine level just base it on the players level and add up to five levels.

Sub-Boss/Sub-Hero NPC’s: These NPC’s can attack and retain up to three traits. If you are creating one or more, each must have up three traits. To determine level just base it on the players level and add up to ten levels for a better challenge or if you think the players need help or you want to drop a cameo. Sub-Hero NPC's may be any alignment. Sub-Boss NPC's can be either Evil or Neutral.

Boss/Villain/Hero: These retain up three traits and up six skills. These characters work like the characters that the players use. You may have up to two Villain's and Hero's per game. You may have up to three Boss's per game. They can also be any level but use them fairly, it’s not just about you having fun… It’s also about the players having fun as well. For more details refer to the ‘Player’s Manual’.


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You may have any number of NPC's on the board as you want.

The level you decide for any of the NPC types will determine how many points you have to use for them. So pull out a spare sheet of paper because you’ll be adjusting stats. All NPC’s automatically have their traits unlocked unlike characters with a full sheet of traits and skills. For the ‘Boss/Villain/Hero’ characters use the points to determine their stats, traits, and skills. Creating characters is fully explained in the ‘Player’s Manual’.

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DM’s Turn & How To Move NPC’s/ Boss/Villain/Heroes:

The DM starts the round. This means you take your turn first and the player second. If you want, you can reverse this order. Essentially you determine which NPC’s will move this turn, you may move any number of NPC's. You may only move one Villain and Boss. Before the round starts you have two decisions, it can be a ‘Story Round’ or you can use your turn to simply attack and move. You may decide if the game calls for the players to use armies or if ‘Round Markers’ are needed. If so, each player would get four each and then change them every three rounds. Planeswalkers can summon their armies and Unique Heroes just place their armies on the field just like the Heroscape rules state.

Story Round: This type of round is for when you have to progress the story. You may place the players where you need them to be or a location you had planned out before the game. Say you use a God type character and the God summons the players to his temple in the middle of the game or a Villain suddenly appears. This is when you would do something like that. It’s best to place a ‘SR’ next to the round you think it’ll happen on. You can then adjust that ‘SR’ to the appropriate round if the players get through the game sooner than expected or if you think the story calls for it.

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Setting Up The Game:

This is like the scenarios you find in the back of “Heroscape Rules” or the “Arena Guides”. You simply lay out or create the board or you can reveal the map, tile by tile or a small section at a time. Then determine the rules of the game and then you decide how many rounds it should last. This is so you can decide whether you want a long or short game. Here’s a example.

Disaster On The Bloody Field!

You and your party land on a battle torn field. The sound of gunfire and explosions can be heard out in the distance. A thick fog blocks your vision. Nick Fury’s grizzled voice crackles through the radio, your mission is clear. Rendezvous with Captain America by ‘Round 10’ and then formulate a plan to capture the Red Skull by ‘Round 20’. If not then you lose the game and Red Skull gets away with his Nazi super weapon. Be wary of landmines and watch out for stray gun fire.

Landmines:

Roll a D20 after you move.
1-3 – A Landmine Explodes! Take 3 damage!
4-20 – Nothing Happens

Stray Gun Fire:

At the start of every round, each player rollers a D20.
1-5 – You got hit! Take 1 point of damage!
6-20 – Nothing Happens

Rounds:

1SR
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10SR
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20SR

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Currency:

I use small jems which I believe can be purchased from Dollar Tree as currency within this game. I award about 2-3 per game and base item prices by how much jems the players have accumulated. Items can also be used like treasure and found where ever you decide to place them.

Items:

Items can be whatever you want them to be. Creation is simple. You need a name for the item then you must decide it's life. When a figure is attacked and has an item equipped, the attacker can choose to attack the figure or the item. The last step is to create the rules for the item and any requirements to use it. Let me give you two examples:

Harley Quinn's Bat:

Range: 2

Life: 3

2 Handed Weapon:

If a Player is using this item then they can't use any other item that requires 1 hand.

Batter Up:

Add +5 to your attack to determine how much damage you do this turn.

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Gun Belt

Range: 3

Life: 5

Requirements: Starts With 6 Bullet Token's

Protect The Goods:

Whenever an enemy/boss/villain is within 3 spaces this 'Gun Belt' Activates and does 1 damage. Remove 1 Bullet Token.

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AND...

THAT'S IT!

YOU'RE READY TO PLAY LEVEL SCAPE!

HAVE FUN!

[Dr.Phibes]

Player's Manual is finalized!!!

After posting, I noticed multiple errors and some sections were unclear. I did minor edits after and I just did the final playtest yesterday and got more player feedback. So this is the final version unless anybody has some good additions.

[Dr.Phibes]

That was embarrassing. The Player's Guide was still unclear in parts, I fixed it up and now am confident in it.

DM's Guide will still be posted eventually. I started to work on it but I'm unsure of it because the first post was a disaster. I'm going to quadruple my read throughs this time.

[Porkins]

Please post a link to it once you have it up; I'm interested.

[Dr.Phibes]

Originally Posted by Porkins

Please post a link to it once you have it up; I'm interested.

This hasn't died. I've had my Laptop in the shop for months, it contains all my work.

As for the game, my group has been loving it and the DM's guide is nearly finalized. Everybody has reached LVL 16 and are enjoying it. I can't wait to finish my vision and share it with this community.

I apologize for this inconvenience.

[Dr.Phibes]

Originally Posted by Porkins

Please post a link to it once you have it up; I'm interested.

I'm done! I finished getting it finalized. The only thing that may be wrong is some typos that I missed but besides that it should be golden. I do apologize for the wait, I wanted to make sure everything was good by the time my players reached Level 20. They have and It was time to post everything. I made it as easy to understand as possible. I hope you and everybody else will enjoy it!

[Leaf_It]

Any updates to this?

[Dr.Phibes]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

Any updates to this?

Yes, I added the DM's Guide. I can always use input as well... My group has been enjoying the game, they've gotten around to Lvl. 25. I tried to make everything fit within the rules for Arena and Heroscape... You know? I want this to feel like an add on. I'll definitely get around to posting samples of characters and items for others to use. I only got a phone at the moment, when I can fully access a PC... I'll try to get that done.

[Dr.Phibes]

Just got done with a update, I added some suggestions that my players made. I'm pretty happy with this... So far... I'll read through it a couple more times for any typos.

[Dr.Phibes]

2020 Update:

We've been playing since 2017 and my players are now at Level 38. We played lots of games and are trying new things to add to this game like the bullet tokens used for guns... It adds a little extra depth to combat in my opinion and my players have liked its inclusion with gun type items. Hopefully we'll have enough thought up for a third version of this soon. Also... I use hex and square based maps or tiles for games and we haven't ever used the Sun & Moon mechanic yet... Everybody has stayed away from Werewolfs so far.