FEAR OF THE DARK SKIRMISH WARGAME

 "This is it... 

If you are reading this is because everything has gone to hell...

Do you remember what I used to tell you about the stars? 

Well... 

The time has come... 

The stars are right... 

And we are on our own...

I´m sorry to say this, but I´m afraid I have to warn you... we are all doomed...

Remember all those creatures that lived under your bed when you where a child?

They were real...

And they are no longer hiding..."

What is Fear of the Dark?

This journey has just started, take my hand and follow me deep into the world of Fear of the Dark.

Fear of the Dark is a solo horror skirmish wargame set in the worlds of madness created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Solo as this game is designed to be played alone, just you trying to make your warband survive another day. Although it could be played with two or even three players in cooperative mode, that is, fighting together against the forces of darkness.

This is not an usual wargame (competitive mode / player vs player) with some solo rules designed ad hoc, this is a solo game.

Horror as the supernatural and the mystery will be the common thread of our scenarios.

Our characters will have to face haunted houses, gangsters, supernatural beings drawn from the worst nightmares, groups of cultists who want to awake forgotten gods, mysterious murders, ancient curses, and dusty books that predict the end of the world as we know it.

Skirmish since the games will be played with just a few miniatures on a table with some scenery, although this game is not attached to any specific brand of miniatures and you can use any that you like. Forget about huge armies and lots and lots of miniatures on the table.

Another strong point of this game relies in its narrative aspect. The focus is on the story since the plot in each scenario will have a great narrative weight, not just fighting without any reason or random encounters of wandering monsters. The scenarios will have a story that conects everything, all the events that happen will have a reason, and even may never be known by the player until the scenario is over.

The background of this wargame is set in the worlds of madness created by H,P, Lovecraft, where a strange universe of gods and monsters underlies our reality, twisting our world upside down and throwing ourselves into a bottomless pit of madness.

In this game you will play a group of characters during 1920-40 fighting supernatural beings and their acolytes who unconsciously try to wake up the long dormant evil, exploring ancient ruins, hiding from shadows that could devour you, and struggling to live another day.

This is not going to be easy, but it´s going to be fun... that's for sure.

Fear of the Dark skirmish wargame is a game designed to be played solo, so that you play your side and the enemy's side acts on its own. There is an Artificial Intelligence system (AI in advance) that will decide on its own how the enemy's miniatures will act and what will they do. 

The AI will decide which enemy miniature will activate and which actions will it make, so, you don't play both sides, you just play your side against this AI, but I have to warn you... That damned AI is good at it... This is not going to be easy... 

There is a character creation system that allows you to create your warband as you like it, formed by 3 to 7 characters, and detail their characteristics and skills to fit your requirements. 

The rules are easy, because as this game is thought to be played solo, so, the rules are there to help you, not to become a problem. 

The scenarios in this game are designed to be played solo, and have a high narrative component, as the idea is to make a rpg lite skirmish wargame.

The scenarios will have a structure similar to those of "choose your own adventure" books, but sometimes the decisions you take will make you face scenes that you will have to play in a game table with miniatures and terrain. 

At the beggining of each scenario is detailed what miniatures and terrain may appear in that scenario, and of course, if you don't have those miniatures you can use another similar ones. 

HOW DOES FEAR OF THE DARK WORK?

I have been asked several times how does Fear of the Dark compare to other games such as Pulp Alley, Perilous Tales, Strange Aeons... So Let´s talk about how does this game works.

In fact all of those games are quite similar, as they are centered around the adventures of a small group of highly detailed characters.

I have played most of those games (and I have read all of them) and the main differences are:

Fear of the Dark is designed for solo playing, it's not a player vs player game that has some rules to be played solo... It's designed from the very beginning to be played solo. In fact, I plan to develop a player vs player rules to be added to this game. In case you want to play with some friends, you will have to fight together against the AI of the game... And I have to warn you... The AI is damned good at it...

Fear of the Dark has a huge narrative component, as every scenario is designed with a "choose your own adventure" style, mixing it with skirmishes played with miniatures. Below I´m going to show you how a Scenario is designed and played.

Fear of the Dark background is set in the world of madness created by H. P. Lovecraft, and horror will be the core of every scenario, although I have some pulp ideas...

The rule system is quite easy to learn, as the game is though for solo playing, and when you are playing solo you need that the rules help you to play, not that they slow down the games. So the rules are made easygoing in such a way that once you have played it a couple of times, you don´t need to check the rulebook (no exceptions, no specific rules, no fine print...). I want to enjoy the scenario and the story not to get bogged down by rules.

So, how do you play a scenario?

Every scenario is made in a "choose your own adventure" style, You start reading a set of numbered entries, and you strat reading entry numeber 1, and you take decisions that take you through the story from one numbered entry to another, many times you will be asked to make a die roll or a characteristic test and depending on the result the story will unfold one way or the other...

And sometimes, your decisions or your luck will take you to "scenes", that are miniatures skirmishes played in a game board against an AI that will make things tough for you...

It will be better with an example, isn´t it?

Let´s say that you start the story reading entry number 1, and you have this:

You decide what to do and where you want to go. Do you want to talk to the police? Maybe you can get some information from them? Or do you want to go straight to the crime scene? Your decisions will affect the story as it unfolds.

And imagine that you decide at some point that you want to go to the crime scene, then, you will be taken to "Scene number 1", and you will find this:

Once you set the game board in a similar way as it is described, you start playing this scene with miniatures, checking Point of Interest, fighting evil enemies, or even trying to flee the game board to make it alive...

The enemies will be controlled by an Artificial Inteligence based on flowcharts and obective selections, and although it may seem difficult, after two or three games played, you don´t even need to check the flowcharts to know which enemy unit will activate and what will it do.

As you can see, from the very begining you don´t know what is happening or what will happen in the story... you will have to play it to find out what is all about... and get out alive!

In this blog I will post new scenarios, support material (characters, maps, rules...), battle reports of played scenarios, general articles on miniatures and wargames... and anything related with Fear of the Dark. So if you are interested in any update on this game stay close.

Apart from this blog, there is a facebook group available to anybody that likes this game, so that you can share experiences, ideas, pictures... but the idea of this group is to gather together because remember our motto "you may play solo... but you are not alone..."

(Click here to go to the Facebook group Fear of the Dark skirmish wargame)

This game is available on WargameVault on digital pdf format sent straight to your email, the price is 10€, and you will get a 130 pages rulebook, including 4 scenarios, cards, tokens and everything necessary to play (except for the miniatures and terrain, of course). Apart from that, you get for free 4 scenarios more and a short campaign, what makes this game a nice bundle with more than 260 Pages.

Fear of the Dark skirmish wargame is available in English and in Spanish, but at this moment the spanish version is not available as it is going to be edited by the publishing company Shadowlands.

As soon as it is published a link will be added to this page so that you may buy the ruleset.

BUY FEAR OF THE DARK IN ENGLISH

I really hope you like it, and remember to have fear of the dark...

It will keep you alive...