The GM was John, and he had warbands ready for all the players. The idea behind Frostgrave is that you play a wizard seeking magical treasure in the frozen ruins of a great city.
You have an apprentice and hirelings--thugs, men-at-arms, treasure hunters, etc.--to help you find and carry off loot.
Of course, other wizards are there attempting the same things, so when the groups meet it gets interesting. Your characters can cast spells, shoot, and melee the other side. All such actions are resolved by opposed 20-sided die rolls.
Of course, it isn't just the other player that's trying to kill you--the city itself summons guardians from the frozen ground to keep you from stealing its wealth.
In this game, it was the frozen dead that attempted to kill the treasure seekers. Nice when it's the other player; not so great when it's you.
In the game we played, there were three of us attempting to haul off loot while beset by skeletons and ghouls. We also took a few shots at one another.
The scenery looked fantastic. The GM told us that a friend of his made most of the terrain, the majority of it coming from Hirst molds or otherwise scratchbuilt.
I like the fact that the goal of this game is treasure, not just line up and go against the other guy. And at the end of this event, the players all got to take home a couple of wizard figures and some terrain, as well as a treasure token.
Once again, the best part was meeting a local gamer. John informed me that there is a weekly Frostgrave event at Dragon's Lair, and I've already gamed with them once since the convention. I'm looking forward to doing so again.
Glad you had a good intro, and got set up with a klocal group to play with as well. Worth the whole convention for that alone!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great looking table.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed Frostgrave, but my group is heavy into Saga, and this is just one ruleset too far, unfortunately.
Will