Cazadores v.03 - A real update!
Almost two months to the day, here is the first real update to Cazadores. You can download the latest version at matachingames.itch.io/cazadores.
Since the alpha was first released, I’ve received quite a bit of encouragement and great feedback, much of which has been implemented in this version, including rebalancing various Actions, adjustments to Weapons, etc.
The PDFs for the game have Changelogs that outline all of the changes but I wanted to highlight a couple of the major changes/updates here.
The Highlights of v.03
New Adversaries
The game now includes 4 new Adversaries: An Accursed Construct, A Creature Wreathed in Light, The Constant Emperor’s Praetorians, and A Neonate Wyrm.
These are all fairly distinct and try to push the framework for what Adversaries can do in a few ways so, hopefully, they serve as inspiration for others to create their own.
I’m very interested in any feedback others might have during play since these haven’t been tested as many times as the Wandering Son, largely in part because there are too many permutations for me to test now that there are also rules for Objectives!
Objective-based Play
One of the things that didn’t make it into the early draft but has always been in the works is Objectives. Although it is fun to face off against the Adversaries head on, I tend to enjoy miniature games that also reward the player for accomplishing goals other than wiping the enemy off the board.
Therefore, this version of the game comes with 10 Objectives which is probably as many as will be in the game for a long time. They are largely straightforward, can be randomized by just rolling a d10 before play, and increase the replayability of even the small stock of Adversaries quite a bit!
In some ways, I see Objectives as almost a “default” part of playing Cazadores but they’re under Narrative Rules right now so you can scaffold them into your games. However, you can see that taking on an Objective is closely tied to how Cazadores earn (or lose) Renown, which makes them a pretty important part of the game and ties well to a new Form Factor I’m trying out.
New Form Factor
Cazadores, as a project, was partly inspired by the great little Planet28 ruleset from Mammoth Miniatures. One of my favourite things about that game is that it’s just a Zine (5.5” x 8.5”). Frankly, I no longer have the patience for big thick rulebooks so, off the bat, I decided Cazadores should try to follow that form factor for ease of use1. It means you can just print the game on a bunch of Letter-sized paper and have your own physical version.
Even though the core rules for Cazadores are simple enough to fit well within the 40ish page limit of a Zine, the addition of rules for campaigns, more adversaries, etc. will just take up more space than what’s available…and that’s all before hopefully sprucing up the game’s visuals in the future.
To address this, Cazadores is going to three “mini” bookets, each in the Zine format:
- The Hunter will house all of the core rules to the game and will be everything players need to understand how to play and create their Packs.
- The Adversary collates the rules already in The Hunter about Adversaries and contains all of the information for the various Foes of the game, including pre-filled Model Sheets you can just print out for use at the table.
- The Eternal Hunt will have all of the “campaign rules” and other bits for advancement, customization, and linking the game together. It’s possible that the Narrative Rules chapter that’s in The Hunter right now will eventually get moved here.
Ideally, these books will get used during different “phases” of play 2. That is, when you create your Pack and during actual play, you’ll be using The Hunter. When you pick an Adversary, you just print out the relevant sheet and put that book away. You’ll use the The Eternal Hunt mostly before the game, if you’re setting up for an Objective or using Scouting & Preparation rules, or after the game to play out the consequences.
I’m not sure how well this will work out, or what people think about it, so I’m open to any feedback on that as on everything else!
What’s Next (v.035 or v.040?)
For the next version, I’m focusing on a couple of things:
- Introduction of Abilities for Cazadores and how to get them
- The basics of advancement and campaigns
- More Weapons, Gear, Adversaries, etc.
However, these are all likely to take a backseat to a layout update. The game has been drafted up in Google Docs and that comes with a few limitations on what it can look like. I want try my hand at something at least marginally more pleasing to the eye. Most likely those versions of the game books will come at some minor cost (5-10$ for all books) to help support my continued work on the game (I recently purchsed Affinity Designer, for example).
Some people have already been kind enough to pay some money for the game even though it’s set to Pay-What-You-Want. The Google Doc/Non-layout version of the game will remain PWYW and I will continue to update it along the other version for the foreseeable future. I want the game to be accessible, whether someone needs a plain text version for readability or because they cannot afford to pay for the game.
I’m also going to explore “Community Copies” for the Layout version on Itch. I’ve found it really rewarding myself that when I’ve purchased things on Itch, it’s made a few copies of the game available to others.
Anyway, I hope you give the game a shot.
Send me a message if you do at matachingames@disroot.org
Jae
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The fantastic ZineQuest stuff over on Kickstarter has really shown how neat this can be, although mostly in the realm of role-playing games. One of my favorites games in this form factor is the Mothership RPG. ⤴
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You shouldn’t be juggling all three books at once during the actual game, my goals is to make it so you don’t have one giant book at the table taking up space and attention. ⤴