CROM - A Fun Conan Skirmish Game From Matakishi

I recently stumbled onto a new skirmish level miniatures game in development by the talented Paul Ward of Matakishi's Tea House fame. With the working title of CROM, the system provides a fast, simple play system using dice pools and the allocation of those dice for specific actions. Created for use in the fantasy world of Conan, the system is basic enough to be adapted to a number of settings and has already been morphed into Greek myth and pirate settings by Paul and other players.

Though the system is still in development, with rules for magic and scenario design, it is very much playable right now and I'm sure that Paul wouldn't mind folks putting it through its paces. One thing I noticed is that the game is definitely for those with  love of the setting and the genre. Those who look to min/max systems or break them will likely find it easy to do so in this game that uses a very simple, flexible, and abstracted system.

Upon initial read we, myself and another guy from my gaming group, felt that the system was basic enough that it could even have a few more layers of detail added without overpowering the core mechanics or ruining play. For example, the game as written seems to use a WYSIWYG approach to the minis being played and does not have any specific rules for weapons or equipment. Also, there is little to set characters apart save their dice pools, something we felt might be remedied by a system of character traits providing modifiers to the basic game play. There is a distinct possibility that such things are already in the works, but as Paul has yet to release the finished product, that remains to be seen. Besides, I love tinkering with systems.

Check it out and give it a try, but make sure if you do to let Paul know how it went.

-Eli