Bombs Away - Heat 1 Underway

[banjo1985]

I guess that now I'm back being far too active in Structured Games, I should think about bringing back an old game that I never quite got off the ground. Because, you know, I'm a glutton for punishment. So, time for another game of Bombs Away! I promise I'll finish it this time, as long as I get 6-8 players to make a start.

Bomb’s Away is a simple game, loosely based on FPS Deathmatch's and the Frag Boardgame, where you must blow the other players to kingdom come to win! Play will take place on this rather snazzy (hardly) 10x10 grid:

{table]|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_|F_|G_|H_|I_|J_
1||||||||||
2|||X|||||X||
3||||||||X||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7|||||||X|||
8||X|||||X|||
9||X|X|||||||
10||||||||||[/table]

X = A wall or other object that blocks line of sight.

To join in just state your interest here and do the following:

Pick a starting square in a PM to me (try to avoid the wall squares), and state the ability you pick from the four below in your sign-up post!

Run Like Hell – You can move two squares per round instead of one.

Cluster Bombs – You can target two adjacent squares with a bomb attack rather than one.

Sniper Bombs – Your bombs have a maximum range of eight rather than four.

I’m Bruce Lee! – If you end the turn on the same square as another player, you frag them with your amazing kung-fu skills.


A round will last around 48 hours, depending on my internet access. If you don’t post an action in this time, you’ll just stand around like a lemon.

Each round each player can move one square and shoot at a square a maximum of four squares away, measured from where you begin the turn. Shooting is affected by line of sight. Each player will have chosen a starting ability that can bypass these limits in some way, as per the ability choices above. You can move and shoot diagonally, and you do not have to move and/or shoot if you don’t wish too, but you need to post to say that you are taking no action. These actions will be posted in the thread, so that you each know what the others are doing, but not where they actually are, at least not without some educated guesswork and keeping a close eye on the action. Shots will be resolved using starting positions for the turn, not your finishing position.

- Example action: Banjo moves one square upwards and fires at squares B4 and B5.

This gives enough information to give the game some tactics, but not enough to give anyone’s exact position away too easily.

If you target a space where another player stands you score a frag! You also get a snazzy new ability at random from the following list:

o Fleeing Coward – You can move three squares if you don’t throw a bomb.
o Dragon Breath – Instead of shooting you can hit every square adjacent to you with an attack.
o Super Bombing Arm – Your shooting has no maximum range.
o X-ray Specs – Your bombs ignore line of sight.
o Steel Codpiece – You can take two hits before you get fragged.
o Machine Gun Bombs – You can target three squares with an attack, all of which must be adjacent to each other.
o Marksman – You can shoot twice if you don’t move.

When you get fragged you reappear in a randomised respawn location at the beginning of the next round, losing any abilities earnt from previous frags.

First to 5 frags is the winner! If two or more players reach 5 frags in the same round, the winner will be the player who died the least.

So, anyone interested in a silly PM-box friendly game of gruesome death? When we have enough players the game will begin!

Heat 1 - Turn 10 ends on Thursday

{table]Player|Ability|Frags|Deaths|Upgrades
Lord Loss|Sniper Bombs|0|0
Zar Peter|I'm Bruce Lee!|2|2|
Fleeing Coward|Run Like Hell|3|0|Dragon Breath, X-Ray Specs
Supagoof|Cluster Bombs|2|0|Machine Gun Bombs
TigerFang|Sniper Bombs|0|1
Khal|Cluster Bombs|1|2|
Elder Tsofu|Run Like Hell|1|1|Fleeing Coward, Steel Codpiece
Billtodamax|Sniper Bombs|0|3
Otakuryoga|Cluster Bombs|4|1|Super Bombing Arm, X-Ray Specs, Marksman, Fleeing Coward
Bobby Archer|Cluster Bombs|1|3|[/table]

[Lord Loss]

Very much interested. Sign me up!

[Zar Peter]

Sounds like fun without too much thinking. Me likes it.

[banjo1985]

Yay for signups!

Just as a note, players choice of starting abilities will be included in the opening post, so you are free to provide these either in the thread or by PM. The only thing that absolutely has to be by PM is your starting square.

[Fleeing Coward]

Sign me up!
I think it's obvious which of the 4 abilities I'm choosing

[Supagoof]

Yeah - let's rock and or roll. Sign me up.

[TigerFang]

Sign me up this should be fun. And I like sniper bombs.

[Khal]

I'd love to join, with cluster bombs, please.

[Zar Peter]

Question: What is this bomb range you are talking about?

Just assume that I never heard of or played any of these "FPS Deathmatch" or "Frag game" games you mentioned in the opening post before

[Elder Tsofu]

I'd like to join - and although being Bruce Lee sound awesome I'm more prone to Run Like Hell.

[billtodamax]

Let's go with Sniper Bombs.

[otakuryoga]

sign me up for cluster bombs please

since you mention not starting on the edges i assume there is no warp-around?

[Bobby Archer]

If there's still room for one more, I'll join.

[banjo1985]

Hi Khaldan, good to see you back!

I think ten will just about work on a grid this size, so Game 1 signups are now closed. However, if anyone else wants to play please still sign-up! Once we have 6-8 players again, I'll start up a second game.

Bobby Archer, you need to choose your starting ability please. I'll send reminder PM's to the players that haven't yet sent me a starting square. Unless I get all the starting squares through in the next few hours, the game will start on Monday.

I'm treating this first game as a basic pilot, so if at any point anyone has ideas about new abilities, map features and what not, please post them!

Question: What is this bomb range you are talking about?

Just assume that I never heard of or played any of these "FPS Deathmatch" or "Frag game" games you mentioned in the opening post before

Bomb range refers to how far away you can throw your bombs. You have a range of four, so if you were standing in square I5, you could drop your bomb on a coordinate up to four squares away in any direction. Don't include the square you're standing on when measuring range. Ranges for shot are worked out from where you start the turn, just like who gets hit. Otherwise the players putting in actions at the end of the round could just avoid anywhere that's been targetted already.

Otakuryoga

since you mention not starting on the edges i assume there is no warp-around?

Well, I kind of meant 'don't start in a wall square because you can't'

There are no warps on this map, and the edges are treated as impassable walls. However, warps and teleporters are a snazzy idea, if you don't mind I may just include them in the next game?

[billtodamax]

On range:

Can I only fire left, right, up, down, up and left, up and right, down and left, and down and right, OR is it like a square with each point diagonally 4 (or in my case 8) units away serving as the corners?

[Zar Peter]

... You can move and shoot diagonally, and you do not have to move and/or shoot if you don’t wish too, but you need to post to say that you are taking no action. ...

I think that's the part of the rules you are searching for.

[banjo1985]

Pretty much this. As long as you can count four squares or less to the target, then you can fire. So if you were standing on A6, you can fire at E5 even though it isn't a direct or diagonal line because it's within your four square range. Of course if you have Sniper Bombs, you can fire up to 8 squares.

[Deathslayer7]

I think Sniper bombs might need changing. I would say 6 squares not 8. and then maybe make the normal 3 squares. So while there is still an advantage to Sniper Bombs, you don't have them sniping you from across the map and making you take 4 turns to reach them.

[banjo1985]

Potentially, I'll run Sniper Bombs this way for the first game, and if it turns out their too powerful they'll get the nerf for the second game. I guess it would be more overpowered in a 1 v1 situation, but with ten people running around quite a small grid the snipers won't have the luxury of out-ranging everyone at once.

Are you interested in signing up for Game 2?

[banjo1985]

Okay guys, all starting squares are in, so the game is underway!

Please post your actions in thread by this time on Wednesday, remembering the example post:

Example action: Banjo moves one square upwards and fires at squares B4 and B5.

Turn 1 is underway now and ends on Wednesday!

[billtodamax]

Move up, shoot at F4 I've just discovered a problem.

Posting last means you can see where everyone is shooting and simply avoid those squares. Thus posting order is important.

[banjo1985]

But the results of shooting are based on where players begin the turn. People will know if they've been fragged, but they can't react to the actions posted in the thread at least. So if someone's stood on F4 now, they're fragged no matter what square they end the round on.

[billtodamax]

Ah okay. I misunderstood. Thanks for the clarification.

[Zar Peter]

Shoot at C6
Move one right

[Elder Tsofu]

Move one right and fire at F5.
Oh, and I'll shake my fist angrily at anyone fragging me - so beware!

[TigerFang]

Move one diagonally right and up fire at E7.

Edit: I just realized I forgot to mention in what direction I was moving lol.

[Bobby Archer]

Bobby Archer will skip daintily to the left and rain horrible destruction on squares H5 and G4.

[otakuryoga]

stand still..fire at d-6,e-6

[Bobby Archer]

Just to be clear, range for bombs is measured from where the player started their turn, correct?

[Lord Loss]

I fire at A3, then move one square down and right (diagonally).