LITKO Game Accessories

I wanted to write a quick review for LITKO Game Accessories who make some really nice laser cut wooden game tiles. The tiles lock together like puzzle pieces and remind me of playing "Advanced Hero Quest" way back in the 90's.

The product is called "space corridor" and so appears to be made for playing a "Space Hulk" style game (another blast from the 90's.) But I find the tiles equally suited to the dungeon crawl. The pieces are thin but sturdy, they come pre-scored in 28mm squares which works fine for most fantasy RPG gaming. But be careful not to buy the 15mm ones which are too small for table-top RPG minis. (The Master Set description and box lid say 35mm even though the link says 28. I'm not sure which is correct, but they're a good size for most standard RPG miniatures.)

You can go to http://www.litko.net and find "Terrain & Buildings" in the left hand column near the bottom, then choose "Space Corridor" and "28mm Scale Space Corridor," or you can click on the link HERE.

I bought "Tokens & Markers / Medium Door Markers" to go with the tiles I purchased as I liked these better for fantasy dungeons than the bulkhead style doors listed with the space corridor set. The tiles are unfinished wood and examples of painted pieces prove the components can be decorated really beautifully if you are artistically inclined.




These are the doors I bought because they were more "dungeoney!"




Example of painted tiles. This is the space corridor Master Set. (Tiles come unpainted.)




More painted tiles ... These tiles are from the space corridor Expansion Set.


The pictures above are from the website and show the tiles painted for space gaming. The image all the way at the top is mine and is from this weeks gaming session. It depicts the entire sample dungeon from page 130 of the Labyrinth Lord rule book. I think it worked out quite nicely.

I should mention that I didn't buy the Master Set but rather picked up my collection piecemeal ... The picture at the top of my review shows the tiles in my personal collection. (I used all but 2!)

The little puzzle nubbins that stick out may appear delicate, but they are really quite sturdy. We've been playing with the tiles since January and none of them have broken, and I don't expect them to. The pieces are of really high quality and well worth their price.

Tiles can be purchased individually or there is a very nice set which will get you a lot of tiles at a reasonable price.




One last picture, the battle with the Albino Ape in room 5. (Sorry about the blurry ... this one was taken with my iPad.)


Check out LITKO Game Accessories. You'll be glad you did!

Regards,



Jeff Moore

Character Advancement in The Supercrew

The referee will tell you when you are able to take an Advance for your character. Your character won't get to take an advance after every game session, only every few sessions, usually after something epic happens.


When you take an Advance in Supercrew, you can choose to do one of the following:

"More frequent Tricks"

Choose one trick. You may use this trick one additional time each game session. No trick may be used more than 3 times a session at maximum. If you can already use a trick 3 times per session you cannot advance that trick any further.


"Tougher Heroes"

You can improve your hero's Toughness by +1 (to a maximum of 5.)


"Add a Power"

You can add a new RANK 1 power, but you can only have 2 powers of any given RANK at a time, so if you already have 2 RANK 1 powers you can't add another. Instead you will have to improve a power.


"Improve a Power"

You can increase a power by +1 RANK. You can only do this if there are two powers of the current RANK available before the advance. Also, if there are already two powers of the higher RANK you can't take the advance until you improve that power.


IMPORTANT! POWER IMPROVEMENT RULES:

The three basic power RANKS in Supercrew are RANKS: 1, 2, and 3.

These RANKS must always have at least 1 power assigned to them.

No RANK can have more than 2 powers assigned to it at any given time.

If improving a power will break one of these rules, you can't improve that power.


SPECIAL RANK 4 POWER:

If you have two RANK 3 powers, you can improve one of your RANK 3 powers to RANK 4, but you can only ever do this once. You can never have more than one RANK 4 power. To use your RANK 4 power you must spend 2 Hero Points!


REMEMBER: if you are using the Alternate Identities for The Supercrew option, you can take an advance for your Hero or for their Alternate. This should provide players of an extended The Supercrew campaign plenty of room to grow!



Regards,



Jeff Moore

Alternate Identities for The Supercrew

The Supercrew's design stays away from tasks of the mundane world and avoids questions surrounding things like secret identities by working from the premise that every player of The Supercrew plays themselves with superpowers. While this is super fun and makes playing The Supercrew as a quick pick-up game the ideal vehicle, there's no reason The Supercrew couldn't be easily adapted to other comic book superhero settings.

Most heroes in traditional comic book stories live a double life. There is the person behind the mask and costume in addition to the hero. To handle alternate identities in The Supercrew all your players need to do is make a second character.

Create your alternate just like you did your hero! First determine your three abilities! To guide the Ability creation process for your Alternate it's suggested that you define an ability in one of each of the following three categories:

1. Profession

2. Hobby

3. Charge

Profession: this is what your hero's alternate identity does for a living, like doctor or photographer or scientist. You can call upon your profession when it seems like that profession would provide skills relevant to something your hero wants to accomplish.

Hobby: Like a Profession, but something your Hero does for fun while in his alternate identity. Hobbies add flavor to your character.

Charge: This is a person that your hero cares about. Roll this when your hero wants to do something motivated by your hero's sense of responsibility to their charge.

(You may recognize these categories from HiLo Heroes. I thought they would work great with The Supercrew.)

Of the three things listed, which one comes into play for your alternate identity the most often? Give that a score of 2. Choose one of the other abilities to be your most reliable fall back and give it a score of 3. Finally, your last ability is one that isn't dependable and can sometimes give you trouble. Give that final ability a score of 1.

Next select some tricks that will work for your alternate identity in the same way tricks sharpen and refine your hero identity! These can be refinements of skills, interests, people or talents for your hero in their alternate identity.

Here is an example of an Alternate Identity for The Supercrew:

CLARK KENT

Abilities:

3 Kryptonian Science and Technology (Hobby)

2 Lois Lane (Charge)

1 Mild Mannered Reporter (Profession)

Tricks:

Call Ma, she'll know what to do! (Charge)
[__] Re-Roll the Dice.

Just the right gadget for the job! (Hobby)
[__] Change one die to a 5.

I found a clue! (Profession)
[__] Change Effect to 2.

By playing both the Hero character and the Alternate Identity character independently, the integrity of The Supercrew game mechanics remain intact but the options for the player are doubled as is the richness of the character role being played.

Using the Alternate Identity character option, The Supercrew can emulate a great variety of comic book worlds and characters.

Regards,



Jeff Moore

Superman for The Supercrew

Abilities:

3 Super Mobility:
(Faster than a Speeding Bullet,
Able to Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound.)

2 Super Strength:
(More Powerful than a Locomotive,
Invulnerability.)

1 Super Senses
(X-Ray Vision, Microscopic Vision, Telescopic Vision,
Super Hearing)


Tricks:

Fly anywhere in the blink of an eye! (Super Mobility)
[__] Re-Roll the Dice.

Freeze with Super Frost Breath (Super Strength)
[__] Change one die to a 5.

Blast with Heat Vision (Super Senses)
[__] Change Effect to 2.


Here's my version of Superman for The Supercrew. It took only a few minutes to make this and no need at all to look back at the book. That's my kind of RPG!

Regards,


Jeff Moore