Continue reading »]]> This is a personal playtest using the 6d6 Core System using the One Shot adventure Outbreak! by 6d6rpg.com.

The 6d6 core rules are available for free from the publisher’s wiki pages and a pdf and hard copy are available for purchase along with other rulesets that expand the basic core system and other adventures.

Disclaimer:  I do have a reviewer’s access to the system but for this playtest I am only using the publicly available materials that you can obtain freely yourself.  I have no personal or fiscal relationship with the publisher/developer. 

Brief System Synopsis - 

I go into the system in a little more depth here but to sum up, each character/creature/challenge in the world has a list of resources at their disposal which they use in various combinations to perform actions in the world.   The resources can be combined in any way that makes sense and are generally in the form of small cards forming a resource deck.  At any given time each character can only have 4 cards ready to use plus any cards that have the Static keyword which just means they’re always available.  Once a resource is used it can be put back into the deck, discarded or rotated to indicate it’s used.

On a character’s turn they can move up to two cards from their resource pile back into their readied resources.  To put it another way, a warrior in a fantasy setting might have his sword out, his shield ready, his armour on and ready sprint at an attacker or dodge out of the way at the start of combat.  He might also have a bow or a war cry or shield bash or charge or retreat ability but right now he’s focused on attack with his sword and needs a moment to shift gears and plan for something else.  That’s where the moving cards back and forth come in.

The cards or resources as I like to call them are the hit points, skills, abilities, feats, attributes and equipment of other systems, they’re just not on a character sheet because it’s easier to arrange and combine them as small cards.   The cards can be virtually any fairly focused ability that you can think up.  Dodge, Piercing Shriek, Fangs and Claws, Defender of the Innocent, Smashing Blow, Longbow, Smith and Wesson .40 Pistol.  They’re almost trait/aspect like in their scope if you’re familiar with various Fate based systems that use those.  You’re free to be as creative as you want to be to create your character.

Hopefully this playtest narration will help this all to become clear as the system is really very simple.

I have a general system of color coding for highlighting playtest documentation.  Blue text is mechanics discusions, red text is where I deviate from the default, maroon text is narrated/read aloud text and grey/italics is for notes, typically on the mechanics of a player’s decision.

Setup - 

Rather than follow the recommend party makeup for 3 players as outlined in the module,  the players chose from the provided pre-gens with Mary being encouraged to be taken.

I’m using my own read-aloud text although basing it loosely on the published material.

Additionally I’ve modified the three published characters we’re using by adding/removing resources from them to roughly fit the 60 point standard character buy-in.

The three characters resources are as follows (after modifications) -

Axel Ried – Cage Fighter
Resources – Speed 1d6+1, Toughness 1d6, Brawn 1d6, Spite 1d6, Self Confidence 1d6, Self 1d6, Five Winds Stance 1d6, Five Winds Strike 1d6+1, Five Winds Expertise 1d6, Five Winds Block 1d6, Five Winds Step 1d6, Jump 1d6, Dodge 1d6, Sprint 1d6.

Clint Harrison – U.S. Army
Resources –  Brawn 1d6, Manual Dexterity 1d6, Memory 1d6, Faith 1d6, Society 1d6, Shotgun Expertiese 1d6, Precise Shot 1d6, Protect 1d6, Search 1d6, Follow Up 1d6, Track 1d6, Alert 1d6, Point Blank Shot 1d6

Mary Mallon – Creepy little runaway girl
Resources - Distinctive Looks  1d6, Faith 1d6, Cunning 1d6, Diminutive 1d6, Creepy Stare 1d6, Search 1d6, Scramble 1d6, First Aid 1d6, Alert 1d6, Escape Artist 1d6, Hide 1d6, Scientific Prodigy 1d6, Out of Harms Way 1d6, Piercing Shriek 1d6

Opening Scene - 

We focus on a group of survivors of a zombie outbreak that happened only hours earlier.  Fleeing in a city bus ahead of the crazed killing and brain eating going on in the city, they escaped just in the nick of time, the bus busting through small but every growing packs of the infected creatures that were swarming the city, biting and chewing everything in their path.  No one knows how or why but the early reports indicated that the scene was repeated all across the nation before they lost contact on the bus.  The cell towers are jammed or down and once outside the city they’ve been cruising down the highway toward a destination they’re not really sure about, just that behind them lies death and ruin. 

We open with a view in a bus on an American highway.  It’s a desolate area with nothing to be seen but wooded rolling hills on either side.  There are some disturbing reddish brown stains on the front of the bus and trailing down the sides in long smears.   We zoom in closer and the camera cuts to an interior shot showing several pale faced figures with varying degrees of fatigue and terror in their eyes as they sit in silence watching the rolling hills roll on by in the deepening dusk outside.  

The weary looking driver tries again to find something useful on the radio when there was a burst of static and then a voice blasted out, everyone jerking in their seats and a small shriek escaping from the girl dressed as a cheerleader near the  front of the bus. 

“…repeat, this is Mad Mikey here from KZMB 95.6 the zombie radio station. [hysterical laughter] Man who’d of thought our call letters would be a serious ass case of what you call it, foreshadowing.  Zombie radio indeed…. [hysterical laughter that trails off to gasping breathing for several seconds]  Okay okay, man up Mike, man the hell up.  Okay good people, what I’m about to play you is a broadcast feed straight from the FEMA folks.  Listen my children of the night, this shit’s bound to be important and helpful.”

The DJ cuts out and the sound of a what can only be a large room filled with muted but anxious conversations in the background comes on.  Cutting over the chatter is a heavy baritone voice with a professional calm, one used to command - 

“People of America, please remain calm. My name is General Koby Bryce of the U.S. Army and I’m speaking to you from a shelter in Nevada.  We know that most of you have lost families and friends.  We know you’re hurting, you’re scared and things are looking bleak.  I want to assure you that all branches of the government are still intact, Vice President Clinton is safe in the same shelter I’m at and President Jackson is in flight on Air Force 1 with many leaders of our government.  I want you to know that we’re moblizing our forces against the disaster we are facing now.  I urge you to find what supplies you can and seek shelter and wait out this storm we’re facing.  If you must travel then do so in small groups.  The… infected are attracted to noise and movement and the larger the group the more noise they cause.   If you see anyone acting in a erratic or hostile way, do not engage them unless you absolutely must.  No matter if they were a friend, loved one or your neighbor.  Once they are…infected they are your friends and family no longer. 

If you are attacked then know that only major head or spinal trauma will stop them.  If their saliva or blood enters your skin through a bite or cut or scrape then you are assuredly infected and I urge you to consider your fellow Americans and move away from them as fast as you can.  An infected person can start displaying… symptoms within as little as 10 minutes of being infected.  

Again, I urge you to find a place of shelter  from this storm where you can wait out this challenge we’re facing.  I can assure you that as ever America will step up and deal with this disaster as we have with every other issue we’ve faced in our countries history.   Be safe and God bless. [.....dead air......] People of America, please remain calm.  My name is General Koby…”

The signal cuts off and the previous voice, obviously a professional radio announcer comes back, “That’s some crazy ass shit ain’t it folks.  Oops I hope the FCC’s not listening or I’m about to lose my license.  But you know what?  I think we’re so far fucked that losing my broadcaster’s license is so far down my list that cutting my toenails ranks higher.  And I had a mani-pedi last week.  No just kidding, I’m all man baby.  Anyway, if anyone’s left alive out there listening, this is Mad Mike, aka Michael Harding and I’m kinda trapped in the radio station at the moment with those fucking zombies outside trying to get in.  If anyone happens to fly by in a helicopter I’d surely appreciate a lift.   Did you guys and gals love how the M.I.C. never used the Z word?  If it walks like a zombie, bites like a zombie and stinks like a zombie then for fucks sake call it a …[static]…  Am I right…[static]… right?  Can I…[static]… an amen…[static]…”

The radio voice fades off as the bus starts to descend a hill and the driver leans over to try to find another station.  Seated near the front the cheerleader jumps up and points off to the side excitedly, “There’s lights over there, I see a house!  I see…”

A loud “What the fuck!” cuts her off as the driver of the bus swears and the whole bus shudders as he yanks hard on the steering wheel trying to swerve to avoid the young girl standing in the center of the highway dressed in nightclothes and holding a ragged stuffed bear.   The bus jerks and shudders and tilts, going up on its side and chaos ensues as everyone inside is flung about.  The shriek and groan of tearing metal fills the air as the buss punches through the safety rail and the slope of the ditch threatens to send it falling completely on it side.  From the darkness an ancient oak tree looms and smashes into the front corner of the bus and the sound of it scraping down the side of the bus is nails on chalkboard magnified a hundred fold.  

Game Mechanic Time - 

As a narrative challenge, per the module at this point every character chooses up to four of their cards/resources that might be able to bring to bear on this particular problem in an error to avoid the members of the group taking damage.   A tactical challenge has more involved rules as to what resources are readied or not.   To get the Resistance to success or target number the players need to beat I’m going to roll 2d6 for each player.  In this case 3 of them (the remaining NPC’s are sadly going to perish from the wreck).  I get a 5,5,6,3,3,5  for a total of 27.  

I’m using random rolls based on atmospheric noise for the curious, which are about as true random as we’re likely able to get right now. 

Mary (little girl) chooses to use – Diminutive+Scramble+Alert+Out Of Harms Way, all resources that would help her to avoid the bus bearing down her.  She gets a 5,6,1,1 for 13.
Note that this doesn’t necessarily mean she avoided the bus, this is a group roll so everyone has to contribute and everyone potentially suffers as a result of group failure. 

Mary: “I wasn’t expecting a big ol’ bus right now but I’m paying attention and I’m a small target!  I dodge and scramble out of the way trying not get hit by it.”

Clint (army officer) is going to use his Brawn+Alert for 2d6.  The rest of his resources don’t truly apply although one might make the case that manual dexterity might give him an edge in grabbing onto something… Okay when in doubt GM’s should err on the side of yes, he’s going to add Manual dexterity to get a 3d6 roll.  He gets a 2,6,6 for 14.  

GL: At this point between them the two characters have garnered a 27 which equals the target number so things are looking pretty good, it’s unlikely that the last player is going to somehow roll a negative number…

Clint: “Son of a bitch!  I spot the girl through the window right as the driver starts his NASCAR imitation and grab hold of whatever I can and hang on tight.”

Alex (cage fighter) looks at his abilties and hauls out  Speed+Brawn+Toughness for 3d6+1.  He gets a  3,3,5 (4+1) or 11. 

Alex: “I grab the hand rail and curl up into a ball so nothing vital gets hurt, I’m used to taking a beating.  Not that I lose of course.”

Together they scored a 38 well over the 27 they needed to get so they emerge unscatched aside from bruising.   If they’d of failed their roll then the amount they failed it by would have been turned into damage in blocks of 4 point wounds which would have been assigned out at random to the PC characters per the direction in the module. 

Narration - 

The bus grinds and shivers to a halt with the screech of metal!  As the Alex and Clint untangle themselves from the carnage a horrible site meets their gaze.  The driver and cheerleader both are nowhere to be seen and the front windshield of the bus is gone.   The old woman has had her head almost completely severed by a tree branch that punched through a window.  The good ol’ boy has a pipe shaped dent in his forehead where it met one of the grab bars with a little too much force, his eyes are open but sightless and blood streams from his nose.  Near the middle of the bus the older woman is crumpled in the aisle, her head bent sideways on her neck.  

Outside the little girl raise up from her crouch and turns to look down the road toward the bus where it finally came to a halt at a slant on the edge of the highway. 

Clint: “Well if this ain’t just about the icing on the cake.  Frickin’ zombies back the way we came and us stuck here on a highway with a FUBAR bus.  If that driver isn’t dead I’m going to kill him!”

Alex: “Yeah.   Oh gross!  I jump up on the seat as the blood from the headless woman flows past on the incline.  That’s just nasty.”

Mary: “I walk toward the bus.  Hello?  Is anyone in there?”

Clint: “Hearing that, I look out the window, does the girl look like a zed?”

Game Leader: “No, perfectly normal looking.  She’s wearing sleep clothes, loose cotton pants and shirt that are covered with Spongebob images and tennis shoes (or trainers as they say over there) oddly enough and a heavy gold cross.  She’s carrying a teddy bear.”

Alex: “Let’s see how bad things are, I’m going to check everyone and see if they’re as dead as they appear and also try to scrounge up whatever supplies we can find.”

Clint: “Yeah, I’ll go outside and check on the driver and cheerleader who I assume are both dead since they’re not players, meta game and all, make sure the little girl is okay and also check out the damage to the bus.”

Game Leader: “Okay what are you going to use for your various tasks?  The people are obviously dead, no rolls  necessary.  Outside you find both the driver and girl dead from hitting the road while traveling at a high rate of speed.”

Clint: “Hmm I don’t have a lot here.  Could I use Memory?  I’ve worked on cars before.”

Game Leader: “Hmm sure.  And you can add a Pseudo Card as well for another 1d6 as your basic intellect.”

Mechanics Break: 

Pseudo Cards are a catch all type of card.  In a tactical situation a character has to spend Flow to add a pseudo card and has to have a least some justification for being able to add it.  Pseudo cards cover all the things that a character doesn’t have specific cards/resources for that’s innate to the character.  Making a strength roll?  Add a pseudo card.  Happen to have Brawn as well?  Then combine it in there. 

But Dennis why would you ever not add pseudo cards to a roll?  The answer to this you definitely would in a narrative situation most of the time.  But in a tactical situation, they cost Flow which is used for other things so you have to weigh whether adding a pseudo card is worth the cost as opposed to using it for something else. 

Clint: “Okay cool.  Working from my experience with cars I assess the damage?”
Note: The player rolls his Memory+Intellect (Pseudo card) for 2d6 and gets a  4.  The Resistance to beat is a 5 that he needed to know just how bad off the bus is.  To know that the gas tank is fixable is a 7+ per the module.

Game Leader: “There’s a lot of damage to the side but other than the obvious stuff you just don’t really know how bad it is.  There’s a big pool of fluid spreading out from under the bus though which you can plainly see and kneeling down you see that what can only be the fuel tank has been ripped open from the impact and the last bits of diesel fuel are spattering out onto the highway.”

Alex: “Okay I’m going to use my… Hmm I, got nothing helpful there, I guess I’ll just use a Pseudo die to search the bus for valuables.”
Note: The player rolls a  3.

[Playtest note here - Per the documentation it simply says, "on a successful search check there is a possibility of finding blah blah but doesn't indicate what value would constitute a successful search.  In perusing the core system I was unable to find any clarity on that.  Bringing me back to one of my nitpicks that there isn't such a list of recommendations in the system as to values to use for basic simple, moderate, hard type skill tests.  

I'm going to argue the point with myself and say that the average of 1d6 is an easy resistance check, the average of 2d6 is a moderate one and the average of 3d6 is a hard one and the average of 4d6 equals a extreme challenge.  This results in values of 4, 7, 10, 14 (3.5 rounded up to 4, 7, 10.5 rounded down to 10 since the module uses 10 in some places and 14) as a basic table.  YMMV.]

Game Leader: “You can come up with  a few bottles of water and a small daypack covered in signatures and flair that holds a pink cell phone, a pair of pom poms, and a math and biology book. As you can remember, most of you were just happy enough to get out of the city seconds ahead of the raging swarms of zombies.  Packing for a trip was a pretty distant second thought.”
Note: The player failed the arbitrary easy roll of 4+ with his pitiful little three. He gets nothing cool and likes it!

Alex: “Right well, I join soldier boy outside.  Yo, dude, what’s up?  How bad we talkin’?”

Clint: “I give him my damn civilian look of condescension.  I’m going to lie, a bit, ‘It’s not too bad but we’re going to need tools.  What’d you find?”

Alex: “I hold up the girlie pack and toss it at him. ‘ Here, just your style champ.  Some water and a pretty pretty princess phone.’”

Clint: “Seriously son?  That’s the best you came up with, a bottle of water and a cell phone?  Who were you planning on calling?  Your mamma? She ain’t gonna be much help in the middle of a goddamn zombie apocalypse now is she?  Did you consider checking the outside storage bins?”

GL: “Nice one, take a 1d6 context bonus and channeling R. Lee Ermey and search yourself.”
Note:  Personal philosophy at play here, player does or says something I find cool, they get a bonus in some fashion.

Clint: “Okay, pseudo-card for my natural intelligence plus my Search ability plus the bonus.  I’m smart enough to know they keep the luggage in bins you only get from the outside so I start opening everything I can find that has a handle or key latch.  I check the driver for keys if any of them end up locked.”
Note: Clint rolls 3d6 and has a 2,5,1 or 8.    Again this is an easy roll so 4+ because it’s not like they’re hidden but finding the findable stuff will require a bit of luck.

GL: “Clint with a methodical search you uncover some a few pieces of luggage, probably unclaimed, containing clothing and nothing of any obvious use but tucked into the engine compartment is a long heavy tire iron.  The tire iron will function easily as a weapon and grants a 1d6 with the keyword Rotate.  In the broken tree parts you also uncover a usable tree branch that works as a 1d6 but as a ad hoc weapon lacks the Rotate keyword so if you use it, it goes into your deck.  ”

Mechanics Break – Resources that have the Rotate keyword, when they’re used they remain in your ‘on deck resources’ aka Dynamic Pool and rotate back at the start of the player’s turn.   This saves the player from having to spend Flow to move the card back from their deck into their dynamic pool.  And allows them to use it more than once on a turn as they can spend Flow to un-rotate it.  This applies more when the characters are in a tactical scene than a narrative one like this one.
House rule –  I’ve decided that for my own sense of balancing game play to arbitrarily increase the buy cost of any card that affects Flow by 50%.  So a 4 point card with Rotate costs 6 points.  Although in this case the tire iron is a free item as loot and the characters don’t have to pay for it for this session although to keep it, they’d have to add it to their character using buy points for my gaming table. 

Additionally you can simply assign some flat random chances as Resistances, using 1d6 for easy, 2d6 for moderate etc. 

Note I was tempted to add in some road flares because it would be cool to use them as a weapon but they’d probably be of little use realistically (if that word can be used here) against zombies and it would of course adjust the balance of the module as written to add resources like that.  And I’m honestly not sure if anyone still uses such things in these days of universal cell phones and LED flashers and the like. 

Clint: “‘Here Gorgeous George, have a stick.’  I toss him the tree branch.  I keep the tire iron for myself.  I stuff some extra clothes into the day pack and put it on. ”

Mary: “I’m hungry.”

Clint: “I kneel down by her, ‘Honey why the he…ck are you out here alone?  Where are your parents? How old are you?’”

Mary: “I’m 8 but I’m smart for my age.  My granny had me tested.  The doctor was going to have me retested cause he thought I was cheating.  Cheating is bad, everyone knows that.  *sniffle* I don’t have any parents, it was just granny and me.  The zombies came and they beat on the door for a long time and then it broked down and they came in.  Granny gave me this magic amulet and said it would protect me and it did.  The zombies killed her and let me go.  They were scared of the amulet and just let me walk out like vampires in the Lost Boys movie.”

Alex: “No shit? I look at this amulet!”

Clint: “What a humanatarian.  I check the girl out, she’s not been bitten or hurt?”

GL: “She’s got a number of scratches and abrasions on her, especially her arms, it looks like she lost a fight with a blackberry thicket recently at the least.”

Clint: “Hmmm.  I keep my tire iron handy and see if I can determine if they’re bite marks or not.  I’m going to use Society and a psuedo.  The society is based on my army training, we all get basic medical.”
Note: This is a valid use of the Society resource that Clint has in my opinion so he rolls 2d6 and gets… a 4+6 = 10.

House Rule: I believe I’d be very tempted to… okay I would definitely take a leaf from Barbarians of Lemuria and give every character a card with their most important or recent  profession on it.  In Clint’s case it would be “Army Career”.  These would be for things that were more information than pure combat.  Perhaps the player could choose to take either two professions at 1d6 or one profession at 1d6+2 with the understanding that they should be different enough that it would be unlikely that both professions could ever apply to the same roll.  

This is not a function of the pseudo-cards RAW which are intended to be used for basic abilities based on a character’s racial or physical/mental abilities and doesn’t indicate they’re used for things like a character’s life experiences or history. 

For the curious, I’ve spent the last 8 months at the time of this posting writing a game system using my free time and there’s simply no way I can not read through a system and not play back seat designer with it.  That doesn’t mean the original system is ‘wrong’,  just that I have a need to tinker.  I’m never not in ‘design’ mode with a game system any more as a result. 

GL: “You check her out and nothing seems suspicious, they’re all small scratches caused by thorns or abrasions from falling.  Alex the amulet doesn’t appear to be anything unique.  You’ve seen similar ones before many times, it’s a medium sized golden crucifix with the vertical bar about the length of your little finger.  It’s getting too dark to see it great detail but you don’t feel anything odd about it.”

Alex: “Weird.  And you say the zombies just left you alone when you showed them this?”

Mary: “It was around my neck, my granny put it there right before the door busted down and said it would protect me.  I closed my eyes when I saw what they were doing and then walked out the door.  I bumped into one of them on the way out, it was cold and felt funny but it didn’t bother me none.”

Clint: “I exchange a look with Alex and indicate we should maybe step back and talk about it.  I set the girl down on the steps into the bus and give her the pink phone to play with and tell her we’re going to go look at the bus engine.”

Mary: “Can I use my scientific prodigy to come up with some comment about the bus’s condition?”

GL: “Sure, it fits the character, a child that knows far more than a child her age would. It’s not an easy test for you though, so I’ll set it as a 7.”

Mary: “Okay Scientific Prodigy plus a psuedo card for intelligence.  Drat, I got an 6.  Okay never mind.  I play with the phone.”

Clint and Alex  (roleplay based on hints/backstory provided by the GL): 

“Shit dude, what do you think is up with that story?” Alex asks glancing back at the little girl.

“Imagination I’d say.  Maybe she dreamed the whole thing, you saw those things. You see them give a crap about crosses?  They swarmed after everyone and everything.”

Alex shook his head, “I don’t know man, I think there’s something off about her.  I’ve always been good at reading people, part of why I’m 45 and 2 in my career.  And the two were just bad ass sumbitches.”

“Well she’s not bitten and if she was around a zombie, I’d expect a nibble or three.  I had something else I wanted to tell you.  That broadcast by General Kirby, I’ve heard of him.  You heard the way he kept using the word storm?  That’s a code, meant for officers of a certain rank.  It means the shit’s hit the fan hard and units are supposed to take independent action to secure their locations by whatever means necessary unless they have direct orders through their chain of command.”

Mary: “Looks like they’ve gone to bed.”
Note: Mary made a Search + Awareness roll and noticed that the lights in the house in the far distance were now out.  Note that I’m going to intermix a pseudo card as what it stands for, in this case natural awareness.

GL: “You two check and those house lights you spotted right before the crash are indeed out.   You have a rough idea of where the house was but with the crash,  in the darkness and everything else going on you’re no longer sure of the exact position.

 Alex: “Dude, no godd… no way in heck I’m trotting my ass through the woods in the dark when there are zombies about.  Especially with zombie grandmothers that turn out the lights.”

Mary: “Oh that’s not my house.  We live over that way. I point toward where I think I came from.”

Clint: “So it’s probably not zombies then, I don’t think lights would be something a zombie might think about.  That sounds like someone trying to not attract attention.”

Alex: “Hmm you might be right sarge.  One way or another they probably have a car, a way out here.”

Clint: “It’s major, not seargent but keep it simple.  My name’s Clint Harrison.”

Alex: “Alex “The Punisher” Reid.  I strike my signature pose for him.  Not ringing any bells?  Crap I must not be as famous as I thought.”

Clint: “Yeah, the woods in the dark is bad enough, adding zombies just makes it more so.  Let’s make the assumption that access to the house is from this highway which means that an access road should connect to it.  The question is, which direction? I’m going to use Memory + Awareness to see if I remember seeing a driveway back the way we came.
 Note: I consider it and assigns a resistence of 4 for Clint although to keep the suspense up,  I’m not going to tell him what the Resistance for the roll is.  But  as someone with army training and in a hostile environment I thinks that such a character is going to be paying attention to their surroundings.  Clint rolls a 1+4 and gets a 5, making the roll.

GL: “You don’t remember passing any such entrance.”

Clint: “Okay so it’s ahead of us then.  Assuming I made the roll…  Whatever let’s saddle up and get moving.”

Alex: “Wouldn’t it be better to wait in the bus for morning?”
Note: Player makes the smart decision and I give him a free 1d6 that he can use for any situation later on.  The idea is to reward players for thinking about what’s going on, rather than reacting.  

Clint: “It would make better tactical sense but we can use our cell phones as flashlights if we need to and I want to get to a land line and possibly some news as quickly as possible.  I’m worried that we might get there too late.  And with that corner of the bus busted up, we can’t close that door so someone’s going to have to play Horatio all night watching it.”

Mary: “I’m still hungry.”

The players gather up the stuff they’re going to take which isn’t much.  Alex is carrying the stout tree branch and Clint has the tire iron.  They decide to walk abreast keeping Mary in between them and head off down the road.  I make a bit of a chance roll, just a odds/evens check on one dice to see if either of the men have a ‘flashlight’ app on their phones and as Fate would have it both do.

The players ready their dynamic pools at this time based on the situation they expect, in this case, trouble.  They end up with the following Dynamic and Static pools -

Clint: Brawn 1d6+1, Manual Dexterity 1d6, Tire Iron 1d6, Alert 1d6 in his Dynamic Pool and Protect 1d6 and Follow Up 1d6 in his Static pool.

Alex:  Speed 1d6+1, Toughness 1d6, Dodge 1d6, Five Winds Strike 1d6+1 for Dynamic and Five Winds Stance in his Static pool.

Mary: Diminutive 1d6, Cunning 1d6, Scramble 1d6, Alert 1d6 as her Dynamic resources and Piercing Shriek 1d6 and Out of Harm’s Way 1d6 as her Static resources.

The utter stillness is a bit distracting, there’s no wind and the woods on either side are quiet.  You have cell signal but all you get is a fast busy when you try and connect, the same as the last few hours.   They do provide a small circle of light around you which helps keep the dark at bay somewhat. 

About a quarter mile, maybe a little more down the road you do indeed find a turn off with a mailbox by the highway.  The road is made of crushed gravel and the name on the mailbox reads The Smiths.  

The road curves back and forth up the hill, what you can see of it before it’s obscured by the heavy woods. 

Sticking to the road you follow it up, the crunch of your feet on the gravel mixes with the occasional skittering of fallen leaves as the occasional bunny or squirrel moves around. 

Mechanics: At this point I look at their resources and then have Clint make a Track+Awareness+Alert,  Mary make a Alert+Awareness and Alex make an Awareness checks, I don’t tell them what the check is for, just what dice they need to roll.  Because this is a narrative roll, it doesn’t matter which cards they have in their pools, they can use anything in their deck.

The mystery helps with the suspense and also helps obfuscate what a secret roll might be for in the future.   Clint gets an 8, Mary a 7 and Alex a 5.  The test is a 7 so only Clint makes a certain connection about animal movement and nocturnal habits.  This is not in the as written module but something I added. 

GL: “Clint you find it odd that there are animals moving about at night, typically the small game you’ve spotted is sleeping at this time of day.”

Clint: “Yeah I imagine why they’re moving about.  I alert Alex.”

“The road continues upwards, cutting back and forth and shows signs of car tracks as well it’s been maintained fairly well.  Overhead the moon beams mostly full and provides a deceptive blue gray light on everything, the shadows lay deep under the trees and your vision doesn’t penetrate far into them.”  

Mechanics: At this point I have them all make a basic Awareness check as this is the start of a tactical encounter they’re limited to their readied resources.  Clint and Mary both get a 2d6 for their basic Awareness through pseudo cards+Alert and Alex only gets the basic awareness or 1d6.    A zombified hunter is about to lurch out onto the road looking for a snack.  Per the module it gets a single 1d6 due to it’s safety orange vest.

The rolls are – Clint: 4, Alex: 1, Mary: 5 and the Zombie gets a 5.   Since ties go to the Resistance side (with one exception we’ll get to in a bit) the group failed to notice the zombie.

“The bushes near the road suddenly start to shake and then a person pushes through them and starts to move toward you.  Its about 25′ feet away and the first thing you notice is it’s wearing a orange safety vest.  Whether it’s a man or woman you’re not sure.”

GL: Okay let me have your initiative cards, a quick shuffle and Clint you go first.

Mechanics: Note that as written initiative has no modifiers other than narration and surprise.  Everyone has an equal chance to go first.   Also initiative order is not known in advance.  The cards are displayed one at a time and that person’s turn is dealt with completely before revealing the next card so the players do not know when during the order the non players may act.  A player can choose to delay their turn pending some other event though.  They can also spend the turn doing ‘nothing’ which grants them an extra Flow for the purposes of changing out their readied resources. 

Clint: “I shout at it!  Stop moving or I’ll shoot!  I just want to see if it reacts at all, a zombie won’t, a person should pull up a bit.  I’ll pull Mary behind me and heft my tire iron in preparation.  In other words I’m going to delay and see what it does.”

Zombie: “The figure lurches unsteadily forward cutting the distance between you in half.  It’s arms come up making grasping motions and that bone chilling moan that’s become all to familiar cuts through the silence of the night.”
Note: The zombie uses its one Flow to move 3 squares.  

Mechanics: The Zombie has two resources readied in its Dynamic Pool, Zombie Hug and Chow Down.  Zombie Hug causes the target to lose one Flow on their next turn and it Rotates so it doesn’t get moved out the Dynamic deck.  Chow Down is a basic 1d6 resource and is moved back to the deck after it’s used.  The Zombie has 1 Flow though so it can move Chow Down back into its hand once it’s used but it also needs Flow for movement.   Hopefully this becomes clearer in a minute.  

In its static pool it only has Undead Toughness but it’s persistent and static so it’s always available. 

This is intended to be a weak encounter so the zombie isn’t fully prepped.  Given that the players have two flow per turn, even if they mosey they can move 6 squares to the zombie’s 3 (30′ to the zombies 15′ for those that dislike squares but squares are what I use typically to describe things where one sqaure equals shockingly enough, one square on the tactical map)

A fully prepped zombie would potentially have, in addition to Zombie Hug and Chow Down, Toughness (different than Undead Toughness) and Spite as options for it’s dynamic pool.   These cards though are available to it. 

Because movement is based on Flow and zombies only have a single flow they can only move once on their turn.  In addition they’re limited to a walk which is three spaces. 

One thing I’m not sure I agree with and I had this same problem with Savage Worlds is that non-walking movement is random.  You can choose to run, by using Flow as a movement and roll a 1d6.  This has the result that 1 in 3 attempts to run, you’re going to be moving slower than your walk speed.  While that certainly makes the decision to walk or run a tactical one, it also lends a certain keystone cops to such systems where 33% of the time they trip and fall which is just a fairly high percentage.  I’d be much more inclined I think to make a run type action 1d6+1 so that only on a 1 in 6 chance are you going to move slower than if you’d of just walked. That’s a 16% chance to stumble which while still high (I don’t know about you but I rarely stumble and fall when moving from a walk to a run) it is more reasonable.  But for this playtest I’ll play it RAW.

Clint: “Okay, I’m going to go off delay and move toward it while we still only have one to deal with.  I’m going to use a Flow to move 2 squares as a walk, it’s only 10′ away now right?  Then I’m going to use Brawn+Tire Iron to attack for a total of 8.  I move up and slash out with the tire iron, going for its skull.”
Note:   The zombie uses its Undead Toughness for its defense and gets a 3, you beat it by 5.  It discards its Toughness which is a life card and is worth 5 life points.

GL: “You land a glancing blow on the skull snapping it to the side but the hunger in those cold dead eyes only fades a slight bit.”

Mechanics: Clint’s player now rotates the Tire Iron showing it’s been used and moves his Brawn out of his dynamic pool back to his deck.  The tire iron doesn’t move because it has the Rotate keyword.

Clint: “I use the follow through and smash it from the other side in a return strike.  I use my last Flow to untap the Tire Iron and use it again.  Only 1d6 but you never know.  A 4.”
Note:  The Zombie can continue to use its Zombie Toughness because its a persistent power which means it can be used over and over.   The Zombie gets a 2 so it takes 2 Damage.  It burns its Spite card which is worth 4 life points.  This leaves it with a single life card, Chow Down.  It’s hurting. 

GL: “The return swing rips off part of the zombies face revealing the bone underneath which is cracked now, its hunger for your  flesh does not seem to be diminished though.”

Mechanics: Characters can spend Flow any time they want during their turn.  So they can for instance spend 1 flow to untap a Rotated card or move a card they just used back into their hand from their deck.  In this case Clint could have spent Flow to move Brawn back into his hand, or swapped in something else but chose to use the Tire Iron twice.  Basically a character never wants to end its turn with unused flow if it can help it. 

Mary: “I’m not getting near that thing even though I know it’s not able to hurt me.  I step back a little bit to here and then I’m going to swap my Cunning out for Hide.”
Note: The player spent one flow as movement and the second flow to change cards in case she needs to run for it again.

Alex: “I  want a piece of this.  I move up, hmm it’s 4 away from me.  I add my Speed to my move die for 2d6. Holy crap, snake eyes?  You’ve got to be kidding me.  I spend a second Flow to mosey my ass over there.  Hmm I was going to go all kung fu on the zed but now I’m kinda limited to hitting it with my club.  I got a 3.”
Note: See what I mean about random movement?  This is a trained UFC fighter who tripped over his own feet from a standing start.  The zombie’s resistance is a 6 so the attack failed.  Because the Tree Branch doesn’t have Rotate it goes back into his Deck. 

GL:  ”You stagger through the loose gravel, catching a foot on a hidden rut.  A little shaken by your clumsiness you swing the tree branch, not the best weapon perhaps.”

Mechanics: Since everyone’s acted or chosen to not act the round is over and initiative cards are shuffled again.   This repeats for each round until the scene is over. 

Mary: “I’m first?  I’m good I think.  These two seem to have a handle on it.”
Note: Lacking any real offensive ability Mary’s player decides to sit this one out.  She could move up and use a pseudo card to hit the zombie with her fist perhaps but has less than even odds of hurting it and who knows, zed’s may think of children as veal and go after her.

Zombie: “Uhhhnnnggggg!”

GL: The zombie grasps out at you Clint with its Zombie Hug + Chow Down for a total of 2d6+1.  What are you going to resist with?

Clint: “Hmm, maybe I should brought back my Brawn rather than untapping the tire iron.  I’m going to try and shove the things head to the side as it tries to bite me using my Manual Dexterity.   I got a 6.  Sweet.”

Mary: “I scream loudly trying to distract the zombie!  A 2!”
Note: Mary’s player has a card with the Resistance keyword on it.  This means she can use it to aid someone else.   Unfortunately 6+2 is only an 8… 

GL: ”The zombie’s teeth close on your hand with force enough to break the skin!  You scream as the molars grind and bite down on the bones in your hand.”
Note: Unfortunately for Clint the zombie rolled a 9.  Clint is not only damaged but he’s suffering from the Zombie Hug which forces him to spend 1 Flow on his turn to get free.

Clint: “Aw hell.  Okay 1 points  of damage? 1 lousy point?! I discard my Society card which is worth 4 life points.”

Mechanics: Per the module Clint’s player now gets an Infection! card.  Periodically he has to roll a d6 for each such card he has.  If he rolls under a 4 on the die he loses one life card.  Regardless of success or failure he also gains another Infection! card.    As per the genre standard (discounting the T-virus) there is no cure once bitten.

A more experienced player would have probably made sure to use Flow to keep more than one defensive card in their dynamic pool for just such an situation like this where the damage brought to bear is more than a single die can likely deal with.  This is why we have playtest though, to get a feel of what works and what doesn’t. 

Clint: “My turn, I untap the tire iron for free at the start and I spend  flow to move Brawn back to my pool and another to break free of the zombie’s grab.   Then I use both to punch the tire iron through this damn things skull.  2d6 for a 7 total.  Crap.”
Note:  The Zombie resists with its Zombie Toughness  and gets a 2.  5 damage.   It discards its Chow Down to cover it and as that’s the last life card it has it expires. 

GL: “Your doom filled raged easily lets you slam the pointed end of the tire iron through the thing’s skull and it explodes out the back in a spray of pinkish grey gelatin like matter.  The zombie immediately stops moving and falls to the ground motionless.”

Alex: “Son of a… That means you’re one of them dude!  You’re a freakin’ dead man walking!”

Clint: “Shut it!  I use some of the clothing we brought from the bus to make a bandage for my hand.  Do I know for a fact that bitten equals turn into a zombie?”

GL: “You’re not really sure.  The movies always make it look that way.  But this isn’t the movies is it?”

Alex: “I back away from him.  We’re in narrative now right?  I start thinking about how I’m going to have to defend myself from him.  i.e. I rearrange my deck for maximum offense.

Clint: “Oh get real.  I feel fine.  Maybe the movies got it wrong.  Let’s keep moving, I want to reach that house before we run into any more of them.”

Alex: “Yeah yeah, how about you just walk out in front for now until we see what happens.  I don’t want you behind me.  And if you start feeling any sudden cravings for brains you make damn sure you let me know.”

Clint: “Oh whatever.  Come on.”  I move out making sure that Mary is between us.

Note: A few minutes later Alex’s player realizes they didn’t search the hunter but by then they’re almost to the top of the hill and don’t care to return in the dark. This costs them a few shotgun shells it was carrying.  This will come into play later.  Sadly. 

Mary: “I’m tired, can someone carry me?”

Alex: “Sorry sweetie, it’s not a good idea.”

Clint: “I can do it hon, come here.”

Alex: “Wait a minute there sarge.  What if you turn while you’re holding the girl?  You want to show up at the pearly gates with her in tow because you didn’t think it through?  You want that on your conscience?”

Mary: “What about you Mr. Alex? My feet hurt and I’m so tired.”

Alex: “It’s only a little farther.  You can make it.  And in case the sarge here turns in… gets sick I don’t want to be carrying you in case I need to… help him.”

Mary: “Hmmph.  Okay but I don’t like you very much.”

Alex: “That’s okay, you’d like me even less if, well never mind, let’s just keep moving.”

A wind picks up as the trek continues, blowing through the trees.  The sounds enough to cover the grating noise of the gravel under their feet.  A mixed blessing as it both hid the noise of their travel but also would hide the noise of anything else moving around in the woods. 

It’s with some relief the trio reaches the end of the driveway near the top of the hill and spot a house bathed in moonlight in a large clearing in front of them.   A large sprawling house with a fenced in backyard and two stories and a unattached garage.   There’s a thin line of light visible in the windows too faint to see from a distance.  Carried on the breeze are the sounds of singing or perhaps chanting. 

GL: “Anyone that wants can try an awareness check.  You can add in any music or faith related resources as well to try and identify the sounds.”

Mary: “Awareness plus Faith for me, a 5.”

Clint: “Awareness plus Faith for me as well.  Would Society or Memory work too?”

GL: “Memory would certainly work when combined with your Faith so sure.  Society… sure why not.”

Clint: “Okay 4d6 for a 11.”

Alex: “Umm, I’m just going to listen real hard I guess.  1d6 for a 4.”

GL: “Mary you recognize the noise as a hymn from a CD your grandmother used to listen to on her radio.  Clint you’ve heard it before as well.  It’s from a music CD called ‘My Life For Him’, a Christian medley of songs as sung by children, you’ve see the infomercial for it several times.”

Alex: “Let’s go see who’s home then?”

Gl: [Private note to Clint - "You find yourself getting easily irritated by small things."]

Clint: “Yeah just go knock on the damn door why don’t you?  That makes a lot of sense.  Idiot.”

Alex: “You okay?”

Clint: “Nothing, nothing, just stress.  Stay here with the girl, I’m going to see if I can spot anything.”

Alex: “Sure thing sarge.”

Clint: “It’s Major!”

Alex: “Whoa, take it easy, okay Major, you go on ahead, we’ll be here.”

Clint: “Grrr, okay I move up to the house, trying to be as quiet as I can be and try to get a look through the windows on the front porch.”

GL: “The wind covers the small sounds of your footsteps although as you step up on the porch the boards are slightly creaky.  Although the curtains have been closed, there are a couple of small gaps where you can get a partial view.  The front hall reveals a set of stairs on the left side leading upwards.  To the right is a pair of french doors, slightly ajar with a flickering light that you associate with television inside, probably the living room.   At the end of the hall is another door which doesn’t have a handle, probably a swinging door of some kind.  Moving to the right along the creaky porch you look through the front front room.

Someone with awful taste in paint decorated the place, it’s a noxious green color.  You can see a sofa and recliner, both well used and catch an angled glimpse of the tv which is showing a shot of a man standing with a large black book in his hand before a congregation, obviously a church setting of some kind, you can hear him speaking rather energetically about something.  An large arched opening on the far wall opens into dining area with another door visible on the far wall of that room.  Based on the size of the house that far door is probably to the outside.   Make an awareness check?  And then give me a Faith+Memory check.”

I changed the kitchen door at the end of the hall from a knob and latch, i.e. regular door, to a swinging door.  Makes more sense as to how the zombie cook got into the kitchen since it’s not smart enough to open doors and people just don’t close interior doors  in a house as a general rule unless they’re going to the bathroom.  And the real reason is it can cause some grief later on…

Clint: “A 1 and a 12″

GL: “Okay the volume is not high and the heavy curtains and double paned windows are muffling the broadcast quite a bit.  You recognize the setting and the man though.  It’s Brother Jacob’s Church of Eternal Salvation, a fairly popular televangelist.  They’re worth millions and even have their own satellite for broadcasting to their faithful.”

Clint: “I check down the sides of the building?”

GL: “To the right side the house runs back to a tall fence that encloses the backyard with a closed gate.  On the left side is a narrow walkway between the house and the garage closed with a gate.  The garage is closed.”

Clint: “I wave my cell phone at the other two, hopefully they’ll figure out that means I want them to come up.  We should have set up a signal beforehand.”

Alex: “Hey he’s waving his cell phone at us.  I bet that means he wants us to join him and not take it as a signal to run away.”

Clint: “Smart ass.”

Alex: “What’s up?”

Clint: “No signs of people but the TV is on with that jackass faith healer send me your money or you’ll burn in hell tv preacher.”

Alex: “Knock?  Or just go in?”

Clint: “I try the knob?  Okay it’s locked.  Okay you stand there and keep an eye through that side window.  I knock on the door.”

GL: “The heavy knocks echo in the house, you wait for several seconds but there’s no change or response.”

Clint: “Okay I jam the tire iron into the door jamb and pop the lock.  I’m going to use Brawn+Manuel Dexterity+the tire iron.  3d6 for a 15, nice.”

GL: “The lock has a resistence of 2d6+1, no way it can resist you, with a quick pop and splintering of wood the door pushes in.”

Clint: “Wait a few moments, no response?  Okay I move up to these doors here on the right that look into the living room?  Anything different than I saw from the outside?”

GL: “While you do have a better view from here, there’s nothing of note that you didn’t spot earlier.  You can see that a magazine rack stuffed with piles of scandal papers, the Moon, the Inquiry and similiar offerings.  The ones with 4 headed baby born in the Yucatan and Angelina’s tryst with Bigfoot.   On the TV Brother Jacob is beseeching those of his following to come to their complex and to bring their most valuable goods and it will insure that they will be saved in these end times that are upon us.”

Alex: “Can I see a remote?  I hate this crap and there has to be something useful on.  I look around for it.  Awareness of  5″

GL: “The remote resists your search with a 1d6 for a 3.  You find it where you’d expect to, down in the cushions of the couch.

Here’s another example of where the module simply lists “A successful search will find the tv remote” but doesn’t list what value constitutes a search.  Again this leads me to believe there is a standard system of values for this, I’m just not seeing it either through oversight or it not being in the documentation.  In this case, I decided to just use a resistance of 1d6 for each person that looked to make it more random and because it’s in the obvious spot, in the sofa cushions.  But having looked for remotes in the sofa before I know from person experience that it can be in there and you don’t find it at first and have to exhaust other locations before you come back. 

Alex: “Okay I flip through the channels, what’s on?”

GL: “A lot of ‘We’re experiencing technical difficulties.’ static screens.   On channel 55 is a service announcement with a ticker scroller and a countdown timer for the next live update which is counting down from 25 minutes right now.  The scroller is displaying common sense things, find a safe location, fill containers with water, take stock of your supplies etc.”

Alex: “Okay I leave it on that one for now.  What now boss?”

Clint: “I’ve been watching the hall and stairs while this has been going on, anything of note?  I’m using awareness and Alert.  Man I can’t roll for crap, a 2.”

GL: “No the house is pretty silent except for the TV, the occasional creak and groan as it settles a bit from the winds outside. Nothing ominous in and of itself.”

Clint: “Okay Alex, me and you in front and let’s check out that door at the end of the hall, probably the kitchen and then we can move upstairs and sweep the house.”

GL: “Okay stop.  Give me an awareness check.”

Clint: “Awareness plus Alert for a 8.”

Alex: “Awareness for a 1.  I don’t notice crap.”

Mary: “Awareness plus Alert for me too. 4″

GL: “Clint as you get within a few feet of the door you pick up a faint noise, hard to distinguish over the sound of the wind but its the sound of running water.  And a rythmic very faint knocking noise, the sound of somethng hitting wood.”

Clint: “I motion Alex to get on the left side of the door and put Mary behind him.  I move to the right side and using the tire iron I gently push the door open.”

GL: “Somethings about to happen, set up your pools please and hand me your initiative cards.”

Clint: Brawn, Manuel Dexterity, Alert, Tire Iron for Dynamic and Protect,  Follow Up for static.

Alex: Toughness, Brawn, Five Winds Strike, Five Winds Block as Dynamic and Five Winds Stance as Static

Mary: Cunning, Diminutive, Scramble, Alert as Dynamic pool and Out of Harms Way and Piercing Shriek as Static.

Note: The players at this point have determined that going all offense is an easy way to end up bitten and thus infected.  They’re switching to a small attacks to try and chip away at the zombies rather than take them out with one big hit.  This is actually a optimal strategy with 6d6 as I see it right now.  Because a target has to burn enough life points to cover the damage and each card is worth at least 4 points, you can cause them to lose a life card with a single point of damage from two attacks.  To do the same with a single attack you have to deal at least 5 points of damage.    Granted it takes time of course but having defense against the zombies is key. 

Additionally because you use up defenses that typically get burned and have to be pulled back on your next turn, multiple attackers can be seriously deadly compared to many systems because the first one makes you chew up your defenses and the rest essentially eat you alive.   I think it’s almost a requirement for any character to have at least one persistent card of some kind that can be used defensively, the obvious of course is armour.   But in this situation our heroes just haven’t had a chance to come up with anything like that. 

GL: “It’s a kitchen as you surmised.  High end wooden cabinets and a stainless fixtures with a center island and granite counter tops.  Standing on the far side of the island is a large woman with a chef knife chopping vegetables on the cutting board.  Only you can see she’s cut off sections of her fingers of her left hand and the island is covered in drying blood.  Her milky white eyes look up at the swinging door and a snarl crosses her face.”

Initiative is Zombie, Clint, Alex, Mary

The Zombie has in its pool: Spite, Chow Down, Zombie Hug, Chef’s Knife and Undead Toughness and in its deck Toughness.

Zombie: “The zombie lunges forward, covering the short space to the door and then grabs for Clint before he can react.  It tries to nuke the unlucky army major and combines Spite+ChowDown+Zombie Hug+ Chef’s Knife and gets a 13.”

Clint: “Well crap on a stick.  I try and fend her off with my whole arsenal.  Brawn+Manual Dexterity+Tire Iron+Alert.   An 11.  Crap again.

Mary: “I scream really loudly trying to distract the zombie! A 3!  That gives you a 14.”

Clint: “Sweet, beat it by 1.  As the she-bitch lunges at me, I grab the tire iron in both hands and push it between her jaws to keep her biting at me and then push her back a step.”

GL: “Awesome work.  Okay it’s Clint’s turn now.”

Clint: “I spend two flow to bring my Brawn and Manual Dexterity back up and untap the tire iron for free.  I’m going to bring the tire iron up and then slam it on her head.  A 3.”

Zombie: “The zombie resists with her undead toughness for a 1.  You deal 2 points of damage.  The zombie discards its Spite card worth 4.”

Mary: “I move my shriek back with a flow and delay.”

Alex: “I’m going to use my Five Winds Strike on it and do a jump kick to put my boot in its skull.  1d6+1 for a 6 total.”

Zombie: “Again it uses its undead toughness with a  2.  You deal 4 damage to it.  It burns it Toughness.”

GL: “End of the round and Alex you go first this time.”

Alex: “Okay I think we’re good, I’m going to use flow to get my strike back and then combine it with Brawn for a 2d6+1 strike.  8, not great but better than it can do.”

GL: “You’re right.  The best it can get is a 6.  No matter what it rolls it’s going to take damage and it only has one life card left.   With a sickening crunch your kick slams the zombie into the door frame and its head caves in.  That hungry look on its face goes away and it falls to the floor.

As the piercing echoes of Mary’s cry fade out, you hear a muffled thumping noise from upstairs, a moment later you hear a second from a different section of the floor.  The staggering lurching foot falls of someone injured.  Or perhaps no longer among the living.”

Note: At this time Clint makes an infection spread check.  He has one Infection! card so he has to roll a 1d6.  He rolls a 2.  As a result he has to discard one life card and burns his Faith.  He also picks up another Infection card.  The next time the disease ‘ticks’ he will roll 2 dice and have to beat a 6 or lose another Life card.

GL: “Alex, Mary, give me an awareness check please?”

Alex: “3″

Mary: “5″

GL: “Mary you notice that Clint isn’t looking so good.  He’s sweating even though it’s not all that hot and he’s a little pallid looking.”

Mary: “Mr. Army sir, don’t you feel good?”

Alex: “I take a look and then ease back a few steps.   WTF man, how you doing there?  You don’t look so hot.”

Clint: “I consider whacking him with the tire iron but refrain.   I point upstairs.  Let’s worry about that first okay?  I’m good for awhile longer.”

 …. Do our heroes survive this latest discovery of  the undead?  At what point is Clint going to turn?  Do they find a vehicle and get away?  Try playing the game yourself and write your own ending…

p.s. For the truly curious, Clint turned and Alex put him down but not before Clint bit Alex and infected him.  Leaving Mary all alone in the woods filled with zombies. 

Continue reading »]]> Notes: This is Terri’s first actual Scene in the game after going through the intro story (see previous posts Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 ) and it’s here that we delve into the actual game play mechanics of DRYH which are deceptively simple but allow for a lot of tension in the players as they choose what resources to throw at a problem and the repercussions of doing so. The scene is based on what Terri put down as her answer for What Just Happened? which is what the narrator uses to invest the player into the world.

Narrator - “Terri, the street is almost empty and you note it as odd given it’s lunch time. You get a sense that people for some reasons they can’t quite put a finger on have found it expedient to not be here at this time. Behind you the coffee shop is still a swirl of pure white as the confetti continues to swarm inside but stops at the edge of the door in a razor sharp line. Inside you can hear the voices of the two customers and the counter girl although muffled and you can’t make out what they’re saying but they seem rather excitable.”

Terri – “Do I see the Little Sister? If she’s not in sight then I’ll follow where this guy leads for now. He seems to know what he’s doing. I still don’t know his name right? I’m going to ask him, “Hey! Suit! What the hell is going on?”

Suit – He’s spinning in place at the moment, his eyes flicking all over. “Suits as good a name as any. There’s power in names. Shit! Duck!”

Terri – “I dive forward without even thinking about it.”

Narrator – “A Little Sister has appeared directly behind you and that nasty looking knife slashes through the air above your head. As you scramble to your feet you spot another one of them standing a few feet away from Suit. Her terrible mouth opens in a large shark tooth filled smile and the dark sockets of her eyes seem to gleam with a horrible intelligence. Suit yells at you, “Lock one down with your eyes! Don’t let them move!”

Terri – “Oh this is so not good! I stare at the one I’m looking at now and yell, “Now what?!””

Suit – “Unleash your Madness! It’s our only chance! We just need to get away so we can slip through a gate, it’s almost 13 o’clock and the Ways close then.” and you hear the snaps of his briefcase locks opening.

Narrator – “At his words the burning and motion under your skin increases ten fold and your mind makes whatever dark horrible connections it needs to with the madness latent in your body and you start to realize the power you have and get some idea of what you can do with it. The knowledge sickens you but leaves you feeling empowered, perhaps for the first time in your life. There are a small number of Little Sisters in this conflict, between the two of you, you can lock down two of them but that leaves any remaining free to move about with those wickedly sharp knife. They weren’t expecting the Suit though for what its worth. I’m bringing a Pain 6 to this conflict.”

Terri – “Okay let me get this straight now, I get my 3 discipline dice right? I can add 1 Exhaustion to the roll and as many Madness as I like up to 6?”

Narrator: “Right but there are draw backs. The pool with the highest string of numbers dominates the results so if Exhaustion dominates then you get another exhaustion die added to your character semi-permanently leaving you with 2. Because once you bring out the exhaustion, it takes effort to get rid of it. But with Exhaustion in play you can invoke minor or major uses of it and guarantee some successes. If Madness dominates then you have to use up one your Responses, either Fight or Flight for the resolution narration. If Discipline dominates then you get to get rid of one Exhaustion or un-check one Response. And if you hit 6 Exhaustion or run out of Responses then you’ll Crash or Snap.”

Terri – “What about Suit, how does he play into this?”

Narrator – “I’ll control his actions primarily but you can definitely suggest things. For this conflict you’ll probably end up each facing a single Sister due to the way the scene is playing out. In other conflicts it might be a “One character does the heavy lifting and another does the assisting.” kind of resolution.

Terri – “Okay I’m going to add 3 Madness and 1 Exhaustion to my 3 Discipline and roll that.”

Narrator – “Cool, and because you’re bringing out the Exhaustion die you can invoke it as a Major use and that means you get a guaranteed 1 success for each Exhaustion and on top of that you get any successes you actually roll on those dice.”

Terri – “_rolls dice_ Okay I’ve got… ugh, only 2 successes, my highest string is Discipline with a 5-4-4.”

Narrator – “I’ve only got 2 as well so players win ties but just barely so it’s going to be a close call. My pain is a 6 so Pain dominates and I get one Despair coin. Now tell me what just happened.”

Terri – “I scream and then bite my right wrist open where the scars are. The pain is horrible but I bend my wrist like spiderman and a stream of spiders flows out and flies through the air to land on the crazy no eyed butcher knife slasher pre-teen bitch child in front of me and they immediately start biting her, injecting her with venom and spinning strands of silk on her body causing her arms and legs to get bound.”

Narrator – “Awesome and great use of the Pain domination! The Little Sister screams, loudly and pain rips through your ears and you can hear glass breaking around you as she’s covered in neo-spiders. Narrator rolls some dice for the Suit There’s a strange fast fluttering noise behind you and you turn and look to see Suit holding his briefcase open and a stream of paper is flying out of it and bathing another Little Sister. Her skin is instantly flayed as thousands of tiny slices appear in it, growing deeper and deeper as more pages hit her. The screaming stops and you turn to see the spider covered Little Sister gone. There’s gasping for breath from the Suit and you see he looks tired, almost swaying, papers are fluttering down to land on the empty street and you look to see that the other Sister is gone too.”

Suit – “That looks like its…”

Narrator – “*gasp, gurgle, ouch* and he chokes as the tip of a butcher knife emerges out of his chest, the smiling blank eyed face of a Sister peers around his body at you. “Run! he screams at you, the subway station around the corner, there’s a gate there the maintenance door in the lobby!” and blood sprays out of his mouth as the knife is ripped free, pulling bits of organs with it. The Sister licks the blade as you watch in horror.”

Terri – “I freak! I take off running, heading for this subway entrance.”

Narrator – “Behind you as you race off come wet thudding noises and horrible chewing sounds. The pain in your wrist is bad but not so bad it distracts you. In fact as you glance at the wound you see it’s been woven shut with silk and the bleeding has stopped. You sprint down the street and find the entrance to the subway station and stumble down the steps, from behind you hear the high pitched giggling laughter of a young girl, and it’s getting closer.”

Terri – “Aeeeiieeee! I do a baseball slide under the turnstile and spring up again to try to spot the door he mentioned!”

Narrator – “You have no trouble finding it, it’s the only spot of color, it’s decrepit green paint job shining in your vision.”

Terri – “I hope it’s not locked! I charge over at it and rip it open!”

Narrator – “It pulls open and there’s a odd click in your head and through the doorway you see a busy street but it’s night and the people are… odd, nay freakish looking. And everything is in color, almost everything anyway and some part of you is relieved to finally see the world in color again. Behind you the slow light footfalls are almost drowned out by the scraping of metal on concrete, as if someone was running a wickedly sharp knife along the wall of the stairwell leading down into the subway.”

Terri – “I jump through and slam the door shut!”

Narrator – “As you do that, you notice the door is grey in color and you hear the bonging of a great clock, once, twice, and again. There’s a thud on the door and the knob starts to turn in your hand with irresistible force. In the back of your mind you’ve been counting the chimes of the clock and as the 13th chime strikes the door knob stops moving and the door becomes colorized, a dirty greenish brown. Around you the denizens of the Mad City ignore you, except for those that don’t, as they go about their business of survival.”

Terri – “Well crap, now what?…”

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…from Google+

Continue reading »]]> Chapter 1 can be found here.

Continue reading »]]> Don’t Rest Your Head Opener -

Note: Ever since reading the Don’t Rest Your Head game system the possibilities have been simmering in the back of my head and this short little story is my first thoughts on how I’d start a DRYH plotline.

——————-
Chapter 1

The itching was especially bad that morning and from the deep red scratches on her arms when she roused from her, not quite sleep but not quite consciousness that passed for sleep for her for so long, it was safe to say that it had been bad all night long as well.

The stench of old urine and some not so old if truth be told filled the air as Terri sluggishly kicked back the threadbare blanket and struggled to her feet.  The smell of rancid bacon and burnt bread struggled to overcome the smell of mildew, piss and vomit and failed miserably.

As halfway houses went, this one was pretty far down the list, one of the last refuges for those who proved that recidivism was a a way of life for the hardcore addict.

But while it wasn’t straight at least she wasn’t hitting the sidewalk.  Her right knee was still scabbed over from her… missteps a few days earlier.

A splotch of color caught her eye and she slowed to a stop.  Something was wrong, so wrong.  She’d thought, hoped that she was finally clearing up but what she saw proved that she had a long way to go.  

She’d passed this way several times, a row of buildings, nondescript, run down and somehow faded, each offering some service from pizza to tattoos but now one stood transformed.  The building shone with deep rust red splotches in the greyness of her world and as she stared, the shrubs in the lawn faded, grew translucent and in their place were piles of sticks. No, not sticks, bones, broken, glowing yellow and white, bright spots among the grey.

Old bones and some so fresh they had gobbets of flesh on them. Bones with teeth marks, cracked open and the insides cleaned out.  Long bones and small, rib cages bigger than her own and some so small she refused to see them lest she scream as her mind unraveled.

He could use a shave, several days past one by all appearances.  His eyes though drew her own, there was something about them, something that she saw in her own each time she dared look in the mirror, an infinite pain and sadness in them that echoed her own but an aliveness that she didn’t see in other people.  And he seemed… solid, somehow more There than the rest of the world.

“Thanks.” he said in a normal volume and dropped the pages into his case.  He stared at her arms for a moment and she thought she saw him shudder a tiny bit before he turned away.

He took a moment to arrange the insides of the case, balancing it in his left hand or so it appeared but his voice pitched low and soft filled her ears.  “You know the Starbucks at 12th and Newton.” It wasn’t a question but how he knew was another thing that didn’t occur to her to wonder about till later.  “Noon. I’ll be there till 12:15.  Don’t be late if you want to survive long enough to get some answers.”

Continue reading »]]> A lot of the last week or so of LCA! work has been nothing more than clean up.  I had to re-org the document breaking it down into 5 sections because Google Doc’s was starting to choke seriously on the size of the whole document.  On the plus side it makes it easier to proof that way, perhaps not easier but makes it feel easier.

I’ve had a lot of clean up on top of the normal stuff due to the mechanics changes from 3d8 to 2d20.  I’m also at a bit of a decision point on what mechanic to use to refill the stunt points.  It was doubles which on 3d8 occured like 38% of the rolls.  But with 2d10 you have a whopping 10% chance to roll doubles.  Hmm what if I made 12=2′s.  i.e. if the last digit on teens would match the same single digits.   That would boost the rate a bit but how much?  I was also going to make rolling a 20 on either dice fill it to full.  So you have a 10% per round that you make a skill roll of getting a full load of stunt points.  But then the mechanic starts to get long and unwieldy.

By no means is the document finished but the mechanics are all in place.  I’ve continued work on the sample adventures, well at the last the classic fantasy one which is about half done.

Luckily I don’t have anyone pushing at me, “We paid you an up front fee!  We want results!”.   And my personal gaming, I’m a player in a heros campaign (so not my favorite system any more) so I don’t have any personal reason to push it.

Continue reading »]]> The rough draft of the Drives and Motivations chapter for LCA!.   The purpose of the chapter is to assist those players who are new to the game/hobby or those for whom typically their character is just the equivalent of a nail in the wall to hang their guns and swords on.  Hopefully by including these kinds of things the Director and players can work to pump a little depth into their characters and color into their scripts.

Note: Excuse the formatting, it’s a cut and paste from Google Docs which just refuses to have any kind of cohesive formatting.

Continue reading »]]> I was pointed to an actualplay podcast featuring the game system Old School Hack.  Now in the interests of full disclosure I’m not really a ‘silly’ gamer and this particular game had some serious silliness.  Is that even possible?  Serious silliness?  I digress.  But while I can see that the system could nudge people toward silly that’s an function of the people and not the system per se. It could just as easily be kept serious.

Anyway, I’ve had a chance to read through the basic PDF which is very short with just single pages dedicated to each of the mechanics and character classes.  25 pages total which covers everything.

The system reminds me, even though it came out much earlier, of Gamma World in that the players define what they have in the way of gear and what their powers are and all that.  I’m a huge fan of this by the way, my own in progress system uses this same mechanic, empowering the players to truly make a character feel like it’s theirs rather than fighter_001.

The combat system is light and really promotes player engagement rather than “I swing my sword.”  The arena system is fairly unique in my experience and very user friendly and cinematic rather than a tactical mini’s game (which I also enjoy).

The ‘numbers’ are nice and low, weapons deal 1 to 2 damage base but can be boosted with Awesome Points.   Awesome Points can be used for a few other things and function similar to Fate chips.

There’s a neat little mechanic with Face Dice which determines if you hit them in the face (duh) and essentially lets you ‘crit’ with the attack and deal an extra point of damage.

The mob mechanic where lots of bad guys are beating up one player is a cool way to do it.   Minions, 1 hit wonders, are done well.  One on one it’s unlikely a PC would ever lose to one barring just horrible dice rolls but between the mob bonus and lots of minions they become a force to be dealt with.

With 25 pages as you can imagine there’s not really any ‘setting’ data.  It’s a generic fantasy swords and sorcery system and it’s really up to the GM to come up with what’s going on.

In all honesty although I can certainly see this being used for a series of adventures I believe I personally would use it more as a ‘beer and pretzels’ game that you bring out when you don’t have time to have a long in-depth campaign.

It looks very easy to pick up by anyone, even children of a certain age and acuity and has big  potential for bringing in casual players.   The openness of the system IMO would be more female casual gamer friendly.  I think women, and this may be sexist I guess, but I think they tend to favor a less hard mechanic system in general over a detailed minutiae based system.

The main purpose of the system IMO is for people to simply have fun and enjoy some easy RPG’ing goodness without having to dedicate a lot of prep time (or any really) to it.  If you’re looking for a long term detailed character treadmill+carrot creation this isn’t it.  But if you’re time impaired or just need a break from your 3 year running [insert detailed game system here] then you could do FAR worse than this.

So the next time you’re having a little group get together of a friend or two and their wives you might consider hauling this out, handing out some character sheets and getting your wizard on with some of the classics, the ‘toll booth’ with bandits or the ‘rescue the damsel’ from the necromancer or the sneak into the dragon cave and steal their treasure horde.

Continue reading »]]> This is a continuation from the first DS playtest and the queen mum of the scarabs changed into a Gaj to allow for a more complex encounter…

Actors: Gerao an escaped pit fighter slave, Areen a disenchanted noble, Jaina a spy for the Veiled Alliance and a practitioner of defiler magic.

Scene: Exterior shot of a blasted desolate desert wasteland.  golden gray sands form dunes studded with rocky outcropping as far as the eye can see. A cloudless sky reveals millions of stars that sparkle down giving a dim light to everything.  Breath steams in the frigid night air.   Focus on three people rising to their feet as a insectile monster burrows up from the sands in front of them.

Director: “As the gaj’s cry is still echoing out its multi-faceted eyes lock on yours and a dreadful intellect gleams in them.  Feathery antennae on its head flutter in your direction and you pick up a torrent of alien thought processes but as twisted and strange as they are you easily sense the hostility running through them all, hostility aimed at you.  Let’s go straight to initiative shall we?”

Gaj Encounter - 

Round 1 - 

Areen:   KC    Geraro:   5C    Jaina:   AS     Gaj:  Red Joker

Gaj: “Sand flies out under the Gaj’s powerful thrusting claws and it drives straight toward you.  It moves with speed slides to a halt directly in front of the group in a shower of sand.    Everyone please make a Acrobatics or Perception roll at +3 to avoid getting sand in your eyes.”

Areen: “I see the danger in plenty of time to turn my head.”

Geraro: “I shield my eyes with a lightnig fast move of my arms.”

Jaina: “I see it coming and duck my head and close my eyes.”
[Note:  Areen and Jaina both went with Perception while Geraro trusted in his reflexes.  Note: Two of them would have failed without the +3 bonus that the Director gave them.]

Gaj: “Jaina as you duck your head two giant mandibles come flying through the dust.   They close on…. air.  The Gaj spends a Rewrite and tries take 2.  Instead of missing the mandible grab catches you squarely around your right arm as you throw it up to shield you from the dust and the jagged serrations of the Mandible crash shut on your arm.  You’re going to take a Level 2 damage result if you don’t try and Shake it Off…”

Jaina: “I spend the rewrite and get a 26 on my fortitude roll bug queen!  I laugh in it’s face.”

Director: “Excellent!  Your arm fits right between two of the larger serations, trapping it firmly but not so tightly as to cause damage.”

Jaina: “I’m still grabbed?  I got rid of all the damage?”

Director: “Yes the grab still hit you, you just avoided the damage of the grabbing attack.”

Jaina: “What’s it’s mean to be grabbed?”

Director: “You can make a Athletics or Acrobatics roll to escape the grab on your turn using your basic move action.  You also get one standard action which you can use as another escape attempt or you can attack the creature if you wish with any one handed weapon and get a bonus since the target has a harder time evading you.   Two hand weapons suffer a -5 penalty.  The grabber can force move you and gets an automatic hit on you dealing 1d6 or 2d6 damage + strength.  In this case the damage is going be 2d6+2.”

Jaina: “I”m up next, I’m going to use.. ugh, Acrobatics is a -3 and Athletics is a -4.  I should maybe get some training in one of those huh? Okay an 11.”

Gaz: “As you try and squirm and twist to get your arm free the Gaj shuffles in response and the mandibles retain their grip.  If anything they’re now tighter on your…”
[Note: The opposed check was Jaina's Acrobatics and the Gaj also chose Acrobatics and the result was 11 to 20 in the Gaj's favor.]

Jaina: “Crap I’m going to try again and use my standard.   14?”

Director: “Jaina squirms and struggles against the stone hard mandibles locked on her arm but no matter how much she tries it remains locked on.   Let me see some Nature checks?  Oh, those are some horrible rolls!  A 2, 8 and a 6?  Never mind.”
[Note: If any of the players had gotten a success they'd of remembered some of the capabilities of the Gaj.]

Areen: “Does Jaina count for MOB?”

Director: “Actually yes since she has the option to attack the creature on her turn and that’s all it takes.”

Areen: “Okay then we have +2 to hit it right since we’re all adjacent?”

Director: “Correct.  And you have another +1 for it’s large size.”

Areen: “Awesome!  Okay I find a good spot and plung my gythka into it and give it a good solid twist! 10 damage and I’m going to stunt and force it to move back.”

Director: “It reduces forced movement by 1 square so you’ll have to spend 4 points to get 2 squares of movement which will reduce to 1?”

Areen: “No problem.”

Director: “Areen steps up and smashes her thrikeen spear into the gaj’s carapace and sends it reeling back dazed.  It releases Jaina as it skids back in the sand, legs scrambling.”
[Note: Forced movement breaks grabs.]

Jaina: “Thanks sis!”

Geraro: “Hey bug!  Try..kal this!  A 16?”

Director: “Ooooh, just missed.”

Geraro: “Lucky shot!”
[Note: Geraro spends 4 stunt points on the Lucky Shot manuever which lets him add a +2 to his dice roll to turn a miss into a hit.  The Gaj's Evasion is 17.]

Director: “Good enough, an 18 hits.”

Geraro: “23 damage, no 26 damage because it’s dazed. Let’s see it shake that off!”

Director: “Level 3 damage result, nice one.   It spends a rewrite to try and shake off the damage and fails.  It takes two Stress and 1 Trauma.”

Round 2 - 

Areen:   4S    Geraro:  4H     Jaina:   3S     Gaj:  7S

Gaj: “It shakes it body spastically and then steadies itself quickly.  The butterfly antennae start to flutter and then a shimmery ripple goes out filling the area in front of it, an area that includes all three of you.  Jaina and Areen roll to the side and end up prone here and here but Geraro you don’t make it. The wave blasts over you as you try unsuccessfully to dive out and blasts along your nervous system. You take a level 3 damage result.”

Geraro: “How the hell does this work out, I’m the only one trained in acrobatics?!  Ouch, I’m going to shake it off.  Damnit.  Okay I take it.  That’s 2 stress and 1 trauma right?  Is this physical or mental?”

Director: “Phsyical.  Oh and you’re blind….”

Geraro: “Anything else you want to pile on there?  Maybe glue my feet to the ground?”

Director: “Hey it’s not me, it’s the gaj, blame it!”

Areen: “Jaina, get on that side, I’m going to get on this one, that’ll give us Flanking and keep us out of a group AOE.   I stab into it!  Damnit, miss but I recover my stunt points.”
[Note: She rolled a 13 which bonuses up to a 16 (+2 MOB, +1 Size differential), 1 short of the 17 needed and two of those dice were 5's which generated 5 stunt points which she uses to refill her stunt pool up to it's max of 4.]

Geraro: “I try and recover, nope.  I spend a rewrite to get rid of the daze so I can act.  I shift back here and then I’m going to try Taunting it and pull it forward and keep it focused on me.  I’m going to waive an attack so I have a better chance at the taunt and keep it from going after Jaina.  Since she saved me from the pits after all, I owe her.”

Director: “The gaj scoffs at your attempt to piss it off.  But I applaud your use of your My Life For Her trait, here’s a rewrite.”

Jaina: “I shift… no I move here, yes I know that’s going to cause an OA but I want to get some range.”

Gaj: “It whips its head around as you start to retreat and the sharp mandibles rip through your side.  17 damage roll, level 3 hit on you.”

Jaina: “Dang, okay, I’m going to spend a rewrite and drop it to a level 2.”

Director: “Okay the mandibles slash into your back and as you turn to retreat, the dazed result stops your action but you can stumble another square if you like and get some range.”

Round 3 - 

Areen:   KC    Geraro:  6H     Jaina:   KS     Gaj: QS

Jaina: “Dazed and confused am I.  Okay failed my recovery roll and no rewrites to buy my way out of it. Hmmm single action, I’m going to pop it with my Fireblast.  Damnit, missed big time.”

Director: “There’s a sudden flare of light on the side of the creature that Jaina is on, Geraro you see a ball of fire blaze on her hands and then fizzle out.”

Areen: “What was that?!  That looked like magic! I’m going to jump up and bring the gythka down, I’m trying to see what’s going on over there on Jaina’s side.  I bring it down in a high arcing blow and cut into it’s side.”

Gaj: “The gaj recoils from the blow and it’s head whips around toward you! It recovers from the blow but is left a little woozy.  It shifts one square back and angles its head and unleashes a mental blast that catches Areen and Geraro in the same blast area.  Areen you’re hit by a wash of mental agony.”

Areen: “I spend a rewrite to drop it to a level 1 and take the Daze.”

Geraro: “I shift forward and bust it upside the head.”

Director: “You’re dazed…”

Geraro: “I Rewrite the daze out then… I nail it, level 2 damage.”

Gaz: “It’s front section is looking pretty bad, lots of little cracks in the chitin and it’s definitely woozy on it’s feet.”

Round 3 - 

Areen:  5H    Geraro:  3c     Jaina:   9C     Gaj: 9S

Gaj: “The gaj tries to recover and fails, it rewrites it away.  It snaps its head forward and tries to grab Areen and… fails.”

Jaina: “I burn it again, I’m going to pump the pyroblast up and add the dot to it… and miss.”

Director: “More flames flare up on Jaina’s hands but fizzle out.  Areen you can easily see the source of the fire this time… Defiler magic at work…”

Areen: “Defiler!!!!  I’ll deal with that after we take care of the bug.  Darn, critical failure… I’m going to shift back one square after the miss.”

Gaj: “You so overexpose yourself Afreen that the Gaj has an easy shot at you but dazed as it is it just can’t quite pull it off and misses you as you move back.”

Geraro: “I shift to here and punch my polearm at it and… miss.  I was doing so well too.”

Round 4 - 

Areen:  7C Geraro:  Red Joker     Jaina:   AH Gaj: 5C

Geraro: “I’m going to fake it out with some fancy footwork and then bash it.”

Director: “Your ploy fails miserably it’s got 8 legs, you only have two…  And your attack misses as well.”
[Note: Geraro tried a Combat Ploy using opposed Grace rolls.  The gaj won hands down.  If Geraro had won the Gaj would be at -2 Evasion until it's next turn. ]

Jaina: “I blast it one more time, just the basics.  And another miss.  I was doing better with the weapons!”

Areen: “Bam!  I smash the gythka down on it!”

Gaj: “Ouch!  A level 3 hit, one Rewrite left.  I have to reduce it to a level 1 or the bug is unconcious.  It makes a Shake it Off roll and gets a 26!  Reduces the hit to nothing.”

Areen: “Well crap.”

Gaj: “It shifts here and then lunges at you Areen but the shifting sands foil its strike.”

Round 5 - 

Areen:  QD Geraro:  AH     Jaina:   7H Gaj: 7S

Geraro: “I shift to here and I’m going to kick it and try and knock it off balance as a Strength ploy.  Sweet!  It’s Off Balance.  And that -2 is enough to get me a hit!  And a Level 2 damage…”

Gaj: “The bug rocks back from the pit fighter’s kick and it can’t quite dodge the incoming trikal blades.  It’s chitin splinters some more and the shocks are transferred directly into the floating brain buried in its head section.  It slumps and then collapses all the way, out cold.”

Areen: “I step closer and bury my gythka into that head section and scramble its brains and then I stare over the bug at Jaina, a Defiler…”

Geraro: “I step over to Jaina’s side of the bug putting myself between her and this know nothing noble brat…”

Continue reading »]]> [Just an FYI: After discussing this with my wife who will be using this system I'm leaning heavily on a single attack roll at +2 bonuses to attack and damage.  A character dual wielding the same type of weapon i.e. two melee or two ranged can make a single attack roll at +2 attack and +2 damage when attacking one target.  If they want to they can make a split attack and make two attack rolls at -1 each and will know that long run that's the worse solution by the math.  If they're wielding a ranged and a melee then they have to make a split attack.  Of course making a ranged attack while in melee range causes OA's so I don't think it'll come up that often to be honest but I didn't want to just flat out ixnay a character being able to split their attack.  Against minions it might make perfect sense to go for two kills rather than a more assured single kill.]

As luck would have it with my near obsession with having a trued up base foundation to build LCA!’s mechanics on, I unovered a problem with the current system for Dual Wielding.

The mechanic of the day for dual wielding is they make two attack rolls, one for each weapon and suffer a -1 penalty on this.

This has some issues -

1. It complicates the Action definitions and action economy.   All standard actions are one action with the exception of dual wielding which is two sub-actions.
2. It slows down combat that extra little bit as the dual wielders have to make two attack and two damage rolls compared to other builds making one.
3. As skills go up equally between the Dual Wielder and the 2-Handed wielder the odds shift in favor of 2H.  At the end of the skill scale the fights are 60/40 in favor of the 2H wielder.  At the start of the scale they’re 50/50.
4. It’s balancing with penalties rather than bonuses which is perceptually not as good.
5. It complicates the attack roll ever so slightly as people have an easier time adding than subtracting.

So I looked at duplicating the same mechanic that other systems have used, i.e. making dual wielding a single attack roll with bonus(es).   FYI, none of the ones I’m familiar with that use this method give you enough of a bonus to make up for the difference.  Typically they give you a +1 or something silly like that.  It doesn’t come close to balancing when the average damage on a hit between the two weapons is significantly better than the typical 5-9% that a +1 adds depending on the system.

Anyway to get numbers that balance up and down the skill levels so that the two types of warriors remain evenly matched, assuming no other changes, I have to offer a total of +4 to the dual wielders attack mechanic.

This +4 can be a +4 on damage, or +1 attack roll and +3 damage or +2 attack roll and +2 damage.

The most balanced (for obvious reasons if you’re mathcentric) is the +4 damage.  The other two options are not quite as balanced but are within acceptable margins.

So the question becomes, do I keep the current unbalanced system (depending on skill levels) or do I drop the two attack rolls and make it a flat bonus.

The down side is as I see it -

1. Dual wielding doesn’t necessarily feel like you’re dual wielding any more
2. You either hit or miss with ‘both’ weapons.
3. Adding bonuses to attack rolls results in fewer misses.

The numbers and background data -

LCA Melee Basics:
1H weapons are 2d6 and max at 4d6.
2H weapons are 3d6 and max at 5d6.
Trained Melee skill ranges from Rank 0 to 5

I can offer the following options (stats down below)

Dual Wield with seperate attack rolls at -1 penalty
Dual Wield with one attack roll at +4 Damage
Dual Wield with one attack roll at +1 Attack, +3 Damage
Dual Wield with one attack roll at +2 Attack, +2 Damage

Dual Wield with 2 attacks is okay at low skill numbers but as the skill increases on both sides the numbers start to significantly favor the 2H warrior.

The stats (100,000 fights at each combination)

————-
Using Dual Wield = 2 attack rolls

Both attacks suffer -1 penalty
With Rank 0 on each side the ratio is 50/50 win/loss between the two builds.
With Rank 5 skill ratio is the 40/60 win/loss in favor of 2H builds.

So between two equally skilled opponents with everything else equal the 2H just got a +20 boost in win rate.

————-
Using Dual Wield = 1 Attack Roll

1 Attack at +4 Damage, no penalty or bonus on AR.
With rank 0 the ratio is 50/50
With rank 5 the raito is 50/50

End result both builds benefit equally from skill and equally matched up and down the skill range.

————–
Using Dual Wield = 1 Attack Roll
1 Attack at +1 Attack Roll and +3 Damage

With Rank 0 the ratio is 51/49 in favor of dual wield.
With Rank 5 the ratio is 51/49 in favor of dual wield.

—————

Using Dual Wield = 1 Attack Roll  (Probable winner)
1 Attack at +2 Attack roll and +2 Damage
With Rank 0 the ratio is 53/47 in favor of dual wield.
With Rank 5 the ratio is 50/50 tiny favor on dual wield

 

Continue reading »]]> This playtest is going to be using the Dark Sun setting.  Granted I only have an old 2nd Edition version so I’m not sure how much might have changed but I would imagine that the Sorcerer Kings are still running things and the Templars are still doing their dirty work and the Veiled Society is I’m sure still looking to have a say in things.

On a “Man those were the days” moment it’s very nostalgic reading things like multi-classing, racial bonuses/benefits per level, the basic classes,  and all the various treasure tables.

So let us once again, for old times sake visit the land of Athas, only this time using the LCA! gaming system.

[Edit: I'm going to very loosely mimic the Penny Arcade Dark Sun podcast. The key thing is very loosely.]

Director:  Okay this will help set the tone and give you some idea of the setting.  Gather close my friends and let me tell you of a world where the Sun and Sand is a mortal enemy and immortal Sorcerer-Kings rule the few livable areas with an iron fist.

“The Sun, it is Dark indeed this year. The world is Athas, a world of heat, pain and grief.  A world where only the strong survive and they die young.  The weak are enslaved and put into servitude.

The three of you, a woman of a minor noble house who calls herself Areen, fleeing an arranged marriage, an escaped slave named Gerao from the pits and the woman Jaina who helped him escape have joined a caravan to distant Tyr where rumors have it things are better but even that is relative.   The sun during the day is remorseless and merciless, beating down at temperatures upwards of 125 degrees in the shade and at night plummeting to a miserable 50 degrees.  

The caravan is a small one and their fee for taking the three of you reduced for that reason.  The more people in the caravan the less likely weaker bands of those that living in the Tablelands will be to attack it. 

Your trip so far has been mostly uneventful, days of trying to not go sun mad and nights of trying to stay warm.  The kanks, the giant bugs which carry the caravan continue their plodding day in and day out. their insectile minds dull and obedient to the herders that keep the caravan on line and in line.   The caravan masters have remarked how hot it is during the high sun, more than any trip they’ve experienced in the past.

The night before a strange display in the southern skies, streaks of light falling from above to flare and then vanish has the caravan on edge and everyone is worried about what the lights might mean.  Some think that Tyr may have been attacked by another sorceror-king and fear is a palpable thing, a city under siege or at war is not a pleasant thing to end the hard journey with. 

The next oasis is three days travel still and already water is a concern, even more so than normal and everyone hopes for news of the south.  The unnatural heat for the year has depleted the water supply with great speed and most of the water barrels now contain only the ever present golden sands.

With dawn the blazing crimson sun of Athas climbs inexorably as do the temperatures by mid morning heat shimmers dance in the horizon in all directions and the sun blasted dunes and rocks radiate the heat back.

As afternoon approaches, bringing with it the greatest heat yet, the southern horizon begins to haze, the line between sand and sky blurring, the signs of a sand storm approaching.  With no time to waste, losing time to the storm will signal the first deaths, the caravan masters move along the caravans fastening shielding cloths on the kanks breathing holes and eyes and tying each to the one in front of it.    The passengers and crew also wrap thin breathable supple leather veils around their heads, ensuring there is no exposed skin.  An Athas sandstorm can literally scour the flesh from the bones in short time. 

With the speed of a diving hawk the sands blast toward you and everyone does what they can to get ready.  But nothing could prepare them for what was to come, a storm out of legends…”

Jaina: “So we’re just riding along in the caravan then?”

Gerao: “Anyone acting supsicious of us?  Being an escaped slave I know the punishment for that isn’t all rainbows and puppies.  Would we even know what a rainbow is given it never rains?”

Director: “The three of you are in a howdah on a kank near the tail end of the caravan.  You’re used to eating dust, you get water from the kank barrels and you share it with a family of 6 but you didn’t have sufficient resources to get a  better location or one to yourselves.  But perhaps Fate was kinder than you might have thought.  As the winds sweep down upon the caravan carrying the bitter stinging sands you hear cries of pain and fear from further up the caravan.   And then as the front edge of the storms blast over you, a arm length shard of obsidian black material punches through the chest of one of the family and the boy falls backwards dead before he knew what had happen.  It’s an obsidian storm, hard straight line winds carrying upon them light weight shards of razor edged and needle tipped obsidian.

More shards slash through the front wall of the howdah and before anyone can really react have carved the ones in the front of the shelter into so much chopped meat.  The three of you at the rear have been spared the worst of that initial blast as the ones ahead of you have absorbed the blows but they’re falling like chaff.

The kank starts to shudder as shards punch into it.  A partculary large shard runs down the length of the bug cutting into its chitin and severing the lines and straps holding the howdah onto it.  The furious winds smash the howdah backwards off the kank and your world heaves and shifts before it and you all land in a broken pile behind the kank.   The creature shivers and flails and then drops down, it’s body shielding you from the worst of the storm.”

Areen: “Unholy crap!  Being a noble I probably don’t have any idea what’s going on?  Is there anything I can think of to help the situation?”

Director: “All of you have heard the stories of obsidian storms but they’re the stuff of legends, no one claims to have ever seen one or the aftermath of one.  It’s something that you all assumed the caravaners used to scare people into signing on with them.  But it appears to be all too true at this point.   The storm is driving thousands of deadly shards of obsidian glass before it and they’ll slice anything to ribbons.  Actually right now holding tight seems to be the best solution.  The kank is blocking the shards from you and in the lee of it’s body the worst of the winds are swirling past.  Visibility is perhaps a foot and that’s only if you don’t value your sight.”

Gerao: “I do what I can to check the family, is there any help for them?”

Director: “Nice, here’s a rewrite for your compassion, the family thanks you for your concern, if they weren’t carved to ribbons.   No they’re bleeding out, they were standard human stock, a family of weavers that were heading to Tyr to move in with family after being driven out of business by a rival back in Urik the town you’re from.  There’s nothing more you can do for them.”

Gerao: ” I cover them then as best as I can, we’ll bury them once the storm subsides.  No one deserves to be dropped into a food processor like that without someone saying something.”

Areen: “Sucks to be them but there will always be more peasents, they breed like rabbits.”

Jaina: “Nice, you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

Areen: “I’m rich, I pay someone to do that.”

Gerao: “No hon, you were rich.  Now, not so much.  That’s why you’re eating dust back here with the rest of us.”

Areen: “Hmmph.”

Jaina: “I burrow down into the remains of the howdah and prepare to wait it out.”

Gerao: “Yeah not much else we can do except ride the storm out.”

Director: “The winds howl for hours as best as you can determine although they bring one unexpected benefit the temperature drops to around 90 degrees, practically balmy for Athas during the day.  Eventually like everything, this too must end and you wake to silence.  The sand muffled whoosh of the winds gone, taking with it the rasp of the sands.    Digging out of the dune that’s formed around and over you emerge into the freezing night air.  There is nothing but silence out there, a faint sound of sand collapsing around you into the holes you climb out from.”

Gerao: “I dig out my gear and strap my weapons on.”

Director: “Now would be a good time to figure out what everyone has actually.  Not that there’s a fight coming up or anything.”

Geraro: “Hmm I dig out my pit fighter gear as well from the blanket it was wrapped in.  Articulated sheets of chitin that cover me from neck to mid thigh.  I assemble my trikal, attaching the two shafts together to make the pole and snapping the three glastone blades into their notches.   Three obsidian blades go into sheathes at my waist ready for throwing or dual wielding.  I used my free weapon Tweak to give them the Throwing property.  I have a small pack with some basic supplies in case I get separated from the caravan.  Or it from me as is apparently the case now.”
[Note: The player's descriptions of his weapons are entirely his own, all that's required is that the weapon fit one each of two categories, either Melee or Range and one hand or two hand.  Each character gets a free weapon Tweak when they build their character, these characters are all level 1.   The player has used that free Tweak to allow him to throw his 1H weapons without penalty as well as use them for normal melee.]

Jaina: “I strap on the bracers that hold my wrist razors and run the bracing strap around my fingers ready for whatever.  Under my outer garments I’m wearing ironsilk undergarments, soft and protective at the same time.  I sling my knapsack over one shoulder, hidden in the strap is the message that I’m taking to Tyr for my chapter house.”
[Note: Jaina's player is dual wielding weapons that are reminiscent of a certain certain superhero's claws.   The downside is they're an uncommon weapon and worthy of comment.  They do leave her hands free though for the focusing gestures that are required to channel energy in Athas, at least this version of Athas.  It's an minor advantage but LCA! is about player empowerment so the Director allows it.  The message is a plot hook that the Director has set up in advance.]

Director: “Areen, what about you?”

 Areen: “We were trained by a thrikeen weapons master, all the house was. As a result  I favor two chatkcha’s strapped criss cross in sheath’s on my back and carry a gythka which I spent the Thrown tweak on so I can use it as melee and throw if I have to.   I’m wearing glass cloth as protection, it’s sparkly, stylish and befits my station.”
[Note: For those not familiar with Dark Sun, chatkcha's are basically just boomerangs that return to sender.  This is a Tweak option for Ranged weapons but the player didn't want to burn a character point to add the Tweak to these deciding to rather have a 2H Ranged/Melee combination weapon.]

Side Note:  All the character’s have opted to wearing some kind of armour.  In LCA! the value you gain from Armour has an equal cost to your Evasion on a one for one exchange.  Harder to damage = harder to hit and vice versa. Geraro has 2 points but has the Knack Armour Training which reduces the Evasion penalty by 1.  So he’s gaining +2 PDR and losing -1 Evasion.  The other two have opted for a lighter protection and are only gaining +1 PDR and losing 1 Evasion.   Another thing of note, Athas is a planet desperately metal poor.  Few people will see iron in their lifetime much less own anything made of metal.  Weapons and armour are all crafted using non-metallic materials, stone, glass, bone, chitin from certain bugs.  These weapons act just like normal weapons, there’s no mechanical difference in Dark Sun or LCA!.

Director: “The stars are hard crystal lights, the dead eyes of the gods as some believe.  The temperatures are frosty, maybe 50-55 degrees.  The sands around the kanks are soaked in their inner fluids from where they were carved open by the shard storm.  Give me a Common Lore roll.”
[Note:  Every character has the Common Lore or Common Knowledge skill, the nomenclature depends on the setting and is interchangeable.  The Director has set up some information for the players, a Rank 3 / Tertiary type information.  This type of information requires a skill roll.]

Director: “Jaina apparently you prepped well for this journey, not surprising for one of the Veiled Alliance but as your feet sink into the damp sand you realize just how bad things are about to get you.  Water Scarabs are drawn to free moisture, they can sense it from miles away.  Each one isn’t very danagerous but it’s unlikely you’ll be facing only one.  As your eyes widen in realization you can hear the first faint whispers of something, a lot of something’s moving over the sands.”
[Note: Jaina rolled a 25 on her Lore check, the other two rolled 8's.  Neither of the other players deemed it necessary to re-roll, trusting in Jaina to share her knowledge.]

Jaina: “What do I think my best options are?  What else do I know of these things?”

Director: “Getting away from the moisture is rule 1 and then driving off any errant scarabs that might come after the water on the hoof.  If you kill any of them, it’s not a big deal, their own fluids are so far from usable that nothing on the planet larger than a protoplasm will touch a water scarab’s remains.”

Jaina: “I scream at the others to follow me and ask no questions and lead the way from the caravan as quickly as I can move.  I’ll double move and hope the others do the same.  If there’s anything remotely defensive in nature I’ll head toward.”

Director: “It’s night time…”

Jaina: “Ahh but I have…. wait a second… here it is, I have a light orb.  I dig it out of my knapsack and let it hang, the running motion will activate it.”
[Note: A light orb is basically an organic cyalume stick only orb shaped.  Shake it up and the creatures inside react by giving off light.  It sheds decent light out to 5 squares and dim light to 10 squares.  Dim light suffers a -1 penalty on Range and Perception checks.]

Director: “Let’s see you want something defensive, let’s see what there is…. Well as luck would have it there’s a rock outcropping thrusting up out of the sands.  Before you ask, it’s slick basalt spires that end in jagged spear like tops, no way to climb it or any place to stand on it. You could put your backs to it though and not have to worry about being attacked from all directions.”
[Note: The Director let the dice determine the terrain and made a standard roll, 3d8 and got a success and let the players find something defensible but so awesome that they can just avoid the fight completely.  After all this is Dark Sun, fighting to survive is something expected.]

Geraro: “We get to the rocks and put our backs to them, I’ll take this side, Jaina you take that one and we’ll put the noble lady in between.  She’s an unknown quality in terms of combat skills.”

Areen: “I can pull my weight damnit!  I stamp my foot attractively.”

Jaina: “I roll my eyes.  I shove the light orb into any handy crevice or hang it by it’s lanyard from something if I can.”

Director: “Yes you can find a crack to stuff the handle into.   As you turn back a swarm of scarabs pour around the outcropping like water in a stream.  The feelers on a bunch of them twitch and twirl and turn in your direction.  These peel off and scurry across the sands.  The scarabs are about 3′ long by a 2′ wide in terms of body although their legs extend out another 1 to 2 feet.  The legs are thick powerful things with claws and flat on the back side which pushes them under the sun during the day time with ease.  The shells are  hard black and green shimmery chitin with short head piece covered with a lot of gnawing bits in their mouths and hundreds of small tubes that are used for sucking moisture out of sands.”

Dark Sun Encounter 1 -

 Round 1:

Areen: 6S     Geraro:  8S    Jaina:   RJo  Scarab Group 1:  10C  Scarab Group 2:  4D  Scarab Group 3: JC

Jaina: “What do I know about them? Do they have any weaknesses?”

Director: “Your lore knowledge roll was impressive, a level 3 result so you know practically everything about them.  They’re relatively mindless driven by a need for water.  They burrow under the sands during the day to avoid water loss and thus there are tales of causing them to flee by creating very bright lights.  They avoid fires, heat causes water loss obviously.   Their shells are hard but not exceptionally so.  They also tend to avoid concentrations of their own body fluids, assuming and usually rightly so that something is killing them and thus to be avoided.   Their fluids and innards range from mildly toxic to deadly depending on the concentration and you know that some of the Veiled have been known to use it as a poison although it requires great care to create.  Their bite has a brief paralytic effect.  If you’re bitten by one you must make a Fortitude roll or you’re Off-Balance for a turn.”

Jaina: “Okay, let’s build a ring of fluids around us my friends.  Let loose the veils and show these things that there is more to fear on this world than the sun!  As soon as the first one is range I slash it open with my claws.  I’m going to hold off on showing my powers I don’t want Areen screaming Defiler at me just yet.”
[Note: Jaina's ranged abilities are in her powers and because magic is extremely reviled and in some places actively hunted down, only the Sorcerer Kings and their Templars enjoy the freedom to use it openly in most places.   Magic is what destroyed the planet leaving it a barren wasteland over most of the surface as the magic was powered by life energies.  Her player is going to defer her action until something in in Melee range.]

Scarab Group 3: “Three of the scarabs attack from this side, advancing in a double move to end right next to you Areen and Geraro.”

Scarab Group 1: “Four more scarabs split off this stream of beetles heading toward the caravan sensing the moisture on the hoof that are you.  They move and end up here along this line next to you Jaina and also threatening Areen.”

Jaina: “I attack as they end their turn.  I’m going to slash this one with my primary hand and this one with the off hand.  Due to that setting rule I’ve got a -1 on melee right?”

Director: “Correct.   Every character that doesn’t train in combat skills gets a -1 in either melee or range.  Dark Sun is a dangerous place and everyone has exposure to some type of combat training from birth.  If you choose not to take melee or range you essentially take the minimum penalty which is a -1 rather than the normal penalty which for you would be… a -3.”

Jaina: “Oh crap.. critical failure on my first roll?   Seriously?!”

Director: “”fraid so.  You slash out at the scarab but the unstable ground and its hard chitin shell cause you to seriously misjudge your aim and your right hand blades glance off it and you flail a bit and I’m going to need you to make an attack roll against Areen.  At +1…”
[Note:  The basic critical failure roll table as option 1 has "you make an attack against an adjacent ally and subtract your skill from the attack roll."   The basic idea is that a more skilled warrior has less chance to hit an ally.  But since Jaina has a -1 she ends up with a bonus to hit her ally. ]

Jaina: “What the hell!  Another critical failure?!”
[Note: with 3d8 the chances of getting a critical failure is roughly 4%.  Getting two in a row like this is pretty unusual to say the least.]

Director: “Don’t worry, at this point nothing happens, your primary hand glances off the scarab and your flailing arm whips right over Areen’s head and sparks fly from the spire behind her.  Make your second attack.”

Jaina: “Damn a miss.”
[Note: She rolled a 15, -1 for the melee skill, -1 for the off hand when dual wielding for a 13 total.  She also gets a +1 because she's attacking a target that is also adjacent to one of her allies bringing it up to 14.]

Director: “Don’t be so sure about it.  These scarabs move very slowly in this cold and aren’t very agile under the best of times, their Evasion is only a 13.

Jaina: “Cool.  Shoot, only a 5 damage.  I don’t suppose…?”

Director: “Not quiet.  Hard candy shell I’m afraid.”

Geraro: “Well I’ve fought weirder in the pits.  I smash this one with my trikal.  Whoa…”

Jaina: “Holy hell, a 32?!”

Geraro: “Some of us know what we’re doing chicklet, some of us don’t.”

Director: “Level 3 damage result Geraro.  Roll it.”

Geraro: “22 damage… I’m thinkin’ that we might be getting a room with a goo?”

Director: “Aye.  Your three bladed pole arm connects with one of the scarabs and totally smashes it open spraying a toxic smelling greenish black goop everywhere filled with tubes and other mysterious scarab internals.  A heavy bladder gush moisture out on the sand.”

Areen:  ”Nasty much?  I lash out with my gythka at this one.  Hit for 11 damage?”

Director: “You’re using it two handed then.  Oh right you don’t have the Combination Tweak on it so you don’t have the option yet.  The heavy crystal head punches through this one’s shell exposing the gooey center.  Good job.”

Scarab Group 2: “Another group of 4 scarabs peel off interested in the sudden flux of moisture that’s oozing out of the scarabs.  There’s quite a crowd gathering now.  With those two down you’re only facing 9…”

 Round 2:

Good Guys – Areen: 4C     Geraro:  8D    Jaina:   KD
Bad Guys – Scarab Group 1:  7D  Scarab Group 2:  AD  Scarab Group 3: 9S

Scarab Group 2: “These two push through to occupy the spots of their fallen comrades and they’re both going after Areen, somehow sensing she might be the easiest target.   This one frenzies and ends up attacking its ally and latching onto it and dazing it.   The second one of this group hits you Areen, ouch a level 2 hit.  You’re dazed and take some physical damage. I’m going to need a Fortitude check? Okay you feel some numbness in your side but nothing impairing.    This scarab comes scurrying up and over the remains of its brother bug and it’s pincers latch onto your right arm and crush it in a painful crunch before letting go.”
[Note: Yet another critical failure on an attack roll.  Also note that the bugs fighting Jaina are getting a +2 MOB bonus due to the multiple hostile creatures facing her. The sun must be angry tonight. (My dice roll app uses the noise of solar flares to generate random values.)]

Jaina: “I’m going to punch my blades into this one and maybe this one depending on how well the first hit goes.  Damn missed.  I’m going to blow stunt points on a Lucky Strike since I rolled some and add the 2 to the attack roll to make it a hit.  Rolled 7 damage and it’s dazed so add 3 for 10…?”
[Note: Jaina rolled 3 stunt points on that roll so she spent 4 out of her pool on Lucky Shot which lets her add +2 to a missed attack roll to turn it into a hit.  She then adds 3 stunt points back into her pool.]

Director: “You need to deal 11 unfortunately.  It’s just really dazed.  The other blow?”

Jaina: “Well seeing how well I did with that one, I’ll try again.  Sheesh, another miss and too low to boost up, but 5 more stunt points.  That will finish maxing me out at 4.”

Director: “You couldn’t anyway, you can’t spend stunt points on the same turn you earn them.”

Scarab Group 3: “These two go after Geraro and this one after Areen.  The sounds of their chitin are a little creepy as they scramble over each other trying to get to you but all that jostling is throwing off their aim or something. Even with the MOB bonus they all miss you.”

Geraro: “Given my better damage I’m going to keep after the undazed ones, you two try and take out the dazed ones.  One, the dazed one.  Hit, okay it’s just barely a hit but better than a miss!  I jab my trikal out at this one here.   Booyah, 19 damage.   Squish!”

Scarab Group 1: “They scramble and jostle to get close, one of them takes the space of the one you just smashed Geraro and attacks you.  It connects with your chest after stepping up on the body of it’s fallen comrade.   The little tubes pierce your flesh and the pain leaves you feeling dazed!”

Areen: “I recover easily from the Daze.  I go after this one, it’s dazed right?  Damnit, missed.  They may be slow but apparently I’m slower.”

 Round 3:

Good Guys – Areen: QH     Geraro:  5C    Jaina:   AS
Bad Guys – Scarab Group 1:  RJo  Scarab Group 2: AH  Scarab Group 3: 10C

Scarab Group 1: “That one continues to press it’s advantage against you Geraro.  It presses those feeding tubes into your flesh for 11 damage and another +3 because you’re dazed.  You’re dazed’er and take some physical damage, one stress level. Give me a fortitude roll? What a waste of a 20. You’re fine.”

Jaina: “Okay to hell with it.  I’m going to put a fire bolt into this one.”

Director: “Ahh, that will inflict you with three opportunity attacks, that’s a ranged power. You sure you want that?”

Jaina: “Oh, maybe not.  Okay I’ll stick with the wrist blades.  I plunge my right hand into this, seriously?  3 damage?!  Okay left hand, same as the first. 7+3 again?  Yeah yeah it’s dazed’eder.  Here’s a rewrite.  I’m going to reroll that last damage.  Much better, 15!  Squish!”

Scarab Group 2:  They shift around, one clambers over and drops into place right in front of you Jaina.  It lunges forward and grabs your left side and with a whoosh the air flows out of your lungs.”

Areen: “What’s going on in the distance?”

Director: “You can hear a lot of crunching and nasty slurping noises.  Now that you’re listening you think you caught the sound of a faint scream that was cut short but you’re not sure.”
[Note: The scream was just information waiting to be asked about. It has no impact on anything.]

Areen: “I look out over the vast streams of bugs and shrug, we got our own problems to deal with.  I punch my gythka into that one crushing it.  We’ve killed how many?

Director: “Five down, 6 left although the 6 are starting to not be as aggressive and some are actually backing away, these three in the back row here.  They might be rethinking things.”

Scarab Group 3: “These scarabs back away, moving back into the darkness in the direction of the caravan.”

Geraro: “Since it seems to be helping I’m going to taunt this one onto me off of Areen and  smash another one, this one.  Come and get it bug!  Rooowrrrr! And a swing and a hit!  He got a hold of that one, bug bits go flying out to the fence.”
[Note: Geraro is using the Taunt skill to attract the attention of one of the bugs to try and keep it from hitting Areen.  He succeeded with a level 2 success and the target suffers a -2 attack penalty per level or a total of -4 penalty to hit anyone but Geraro.   He also scored a great hit on another bug and smashed it.] 

Round 4:

Good Guys – Areen: QS     Geraro:  QD    Jaina:   BJo
Bad Guys – Scarab Group 1: 7H

Director: “I’m going to collapse these three remaining into a new group and they’ll act as one.  Jaina you got the Joker, you’re up.”

Jaina: “No reason not to smash some bug.  I smash this one, the one not focused on Geraro.  And… I missed. I can’t catch a break can I?”

Areen: “Thanks Geraro!  I’m going to help Jaina with her bug.  Boom!  Head shot! OMG 36 damage.”

Director: “Your crystal bladed weapon whips back and forth through the bug turning into bug puree and a disgusting soup like texture.”

Geraro: “Well I can’t compete with that but I crush this one into the ground.”

Scarab: “It turns and tries to flee, giving Areen and Jaina  opportunity attacks if they want them.”

Areen: “Bam!  I smash its back and for good measure I stir its insides a bit.  That’s the last of them right?”

Director: “Yes the circle of light cast by the orb stuck in rock above your head reveals no other scarabs in sight.  The noises coming from off in this direction toward the caravan aren’t pretty though.  A lot of nasty sounding crunching and sucking noises.  You take a brief rest and you both automatically recover the 1 stress damage you’d taken.”
[Note: Physical Stress damage is designed to be a factor during a fight, not between fights.  Physical Trauma is the damage that lingers and affects a character's ability to function.  Character's automatically recover 1 stress without any action on their part.  They can also make or have made upon them a First Aid check, once per minute to recover additional stress.  The only 'gotcha' is a critical failure on a first aid check causes a level of physical trauma.  Sometimes no doctor is better than one with 2 left hands.] 

Jaina: “What about you two use your polearms to spread that gunk around so it covers the whole area in front of us?  That might help keep them away.”

Areena: “Good idea,  I guess I could stoop to manual labor if it’ll save my life.”

Geraro: “Some eye rolling going on over here.   I help her mix the goop into the sand in a broad area in front of us.

Director: “The sand is kind of gluey now as the moisture is pulled away into the dry sands and air but you can spread it out and cover a wider area.  The smell of the stuff is almost enough to make you sick, definitely a little queasy but Jaina you don’t think it’s going to actually harm you.  As you settle back to wait for the sun’s searing light there’s a faint rumble and then the sands about 30′ in front of you starts to mound up, higher and higher in the space of seconds and then a giant insect like creature pushes forth with a hissing roar loud enough to be heard for a mile or more.  It’s swirling multifaceted eyes lock onto you and the patch of sand covered in broken scarabs and goo and the same same goop covering your weapons and even your lower extremities.  The creature is vaguely similar to the beetles only larger with a long ovipositor at the back.   Jaina you recognize this as a gaj and from what you know of it, not something you want to be standing in front of with several of workers smashed flat into the sand at your feet.  Its chitin creaks and rustles as that super high pitched roar of noise blasts out of its spiracles….”

Continue reading »]]> A lot of work has been done on the internal layout of the document but it’s boring and not very exciting to be honest.

Still some internal debate (internal to me that is) going on about what stat to link Melee with.  The prototypical Strength or leave it a Grace.  There are pros and cons to both primarily in balance issues.

I’m redoing all the powers, well not redoing so much as polishing.  I’ve  added a few like Empathy and… something else that I can’t think of and am restructuring all of them to have the same layout.  The powers were all written at various times during development and the layout varies quite a bit from each one.

Currently the layout looks like this -

Damage Shield -

Rank: 1
Skill: 2
Range: Touch
Energy Cost: 2
Duration: Persistent
Pool Drain: 2/3
Special FX: Fire, cold, electrical, plasma, spiky growth
Targets: Choice
Description:
This power creates an outwardly focused damaging aura on the target that reacts when touched.

Continue reading »]]> I’ve recently had a chance to page through The  One Ring RPG manuals.

The books are pleasant enough, seem to be quality printed.  There’s not a ton of artwork, no full color spreads that I can remember now, just a small quarter panel scattered every couple or three pages.  I’m fine with that myself.  They do use a fairly heavy texture graphic under all the body text which personally I hate.  Anything that makes the text harder to read is a bad thing to me.

The artwork is more watercolor’y rather than pen and ink but pleasent in most cases.

Without more extensive viewing than I got, I don’t remember it being badly copy edited, nothing jumped out at me in terms of typo’s grammar or spelling.

Their system has a LOT of similarities to LCA!, the system I’ve been developing for the last 6 months.  Under no circumstances am I implying that is anything more than a coincidence.   I just find it very interesting, it’s almost like reading a paraphrased version of my various design versions.

For example when you get wounded their mechanic calls for underlining a box on the character sheet when you fail a healing check so that you know to wait 24 hours before you try again.  I was going to go with putting a \ through a box to denote a wound and then if you failed the roll to heal you put a / to make an X to indicate you need to wait a day before trying to heal it again.   I recently changed my damage system to something else but still it’s odd reading something so similiar.

They also have the concept of Focus Skill, I call them Heroic Skill and Focus Skill.  These are the skills that you’re particular good at.

They use the term Degree of Success, up until a week ago I used the same term but I switched to defining success by Level a few days ago.

They use the term Target Number, as do I.  Not a big thing obviously, Difficulty Number is the most common other option.

They also have 5 stats well 3 character stats and 2 that are statish.  Until very recently I had 5 stats.  They generalize even further than I do with 1 stat for all body/physical , 1 for all mental, 1 stat for all spirit.  It would equate to my Strength+Grace, Intellect+Empathy, Resolve+Fortitude, roughly.

They have 3d6+1d12, i went with 3d8 for better scaling but I offer an optional box for how to convert to 3d6 if you’d rather use d6′s for everything. You lose some granularity and have to make some adjustments to various numbers but it’s doable.

I kick their ass in Skills though, they only have 18, I have 25, 2 of those are open ended and can be anything a player might wish to be skilled at.

They also use Traits although theirs are canned like Herb-Lore or Smith-Craft.    The One Ring’s Distinctive Feature’s are much closer to my Trait system although again theirs are canned, as in pick from this list.   Rather than give you hard list of things you can use, I prefer to leave it up to the player like so much else of LCA!.  I want players to make their characters Their Own, rather than being fighter_001 with Longsword and Chainmail.

They have am Emdurance system which is similar to my Vitality system although theirs is more complicated and detailed and is almost a damage system by itself.  Technically I guess mine is as well but mine’s more abstract.  Actually their damage system comprised of damage and endurance is very close to my Stress + Trauma system.   In their system your’e more likely to get ‘tired’ to death than killed to death, much like in my system you’re more likely to get knocked unconscious than killed.

Their treasure system is kind of cool and avoids having the ‘bag of 1800 silvers’.  I might borrow that concept for a setting expansion.  Assuming I ever do a fantasy setting expansion.

Before I forget, they have special dice symbols on their dice.  I didn’t even consider going that route.  For good reasons, not because I’m teh dum.

The combat system has shades of deja vu although they have a Stance system for everyone that determines how hard you are to hit.  Yeah, I have Stances too that you can buy as Knacks.    They add the target’s parry to the TN though which seems wrong to me for ranged attacks.  Not that many people would be able to Parry an arrow coming at them assuming they even knew it was coming in.  That doesn’t reflect reality very well at all in my opinion.  Not that a game system has to.  It just seems that it makes ranged weapons nothing but melee weapons that you can use at range.

Do you see where I’m going with this?  If you like the One Tree RPG mechanics then you should find a lot of things to like about LCA!

If you’re fan of the Hobbit / Towers setting then there’s a lot to like about the system.  I can’t not say that given the similarities after all.  Personally I’m not a fan or a detractor of the world and given it’s mostly the setting that I’d want from a book I didn’t buy them myself.  But if you see a Fellowship in your future then you could do worse than The One Ring.

Continue reading »]]> This playtest is set in 1945 just after the war when everyone is high on victory, well except for the losers but there are still dark things out there, unleashed by the people meddling where they shouldn’t have been.   It’s a world with a bit of Steampunk.

Our cast of characters on the player aka as Actors are Ben G. Mann, a (wait for it…) government trouble shooter of the darker things, Felicia “Princess” Stark – an investigative reporter and Oscar Martinez a free lance ‘monster hunter’.

Changes from previous playtests – Target Numbers are 15, only one dice can explode per roll and only one time.  Using the Damage V2 system which incorproates Stress/Trauma levels.   Stress and Trauma being differentiated allow for a nice granularity and easy Director control of just how much a bad guy can eff up his heroes.    Terminology for how successful an attack is now standarized by Level.  A level 1 is the minimal success, a Level 5 is the epic success.

Note: All rolls are genuine, no fudging involved.

As fate would have it, well not fate really, more the script as written, all three show up in the same small town following various leads that throw them together.   What follows are the ‘dice based’ encounters in the storyline.

Encounter 1:  ”We get Felicia and Oscar together.”

Director: “It’s evening, the air muggy and filled with humidity.  Typical for this time of year in south and being a “Damn Yankee” Felicia you feel like a wilting flower.  Needing some fresh air you head outside for a walk.

Your room at the hotel has a single window in it and no breeze at all, the desk fan on the table hasn’t worked since you got here even after having it replaced.  The manager has said they’re going to have to have someone check the wiring and took the “we’re all full up” stance when you asked to be moved to another room.

Almost it’s not that small a town, you’ve found such reactions common, people tend to be either stone faced when dealing with you or snappy and irritable.  So far all your prying has accomplished is a $20 expense report for a week of blank pages in your notebook.  No one but no one wants to talk about the murders.

Much like small towns though the sidewalks are rolled up when it gets dark and there’s only a few street lights and the rare passing car as you wander down the street enjoying the slight breeze.   You’re on main street and everything’s closed now although there are still some lights on in the second story windows of some of them where most likely the owners live.

You’re going over what you know of the murders which is that over the last year people when one of those infrequent vehicles pulls up to a stop on the street next to you with a rattle and squeaking of springs.

It’s a pick up truck and three figures clamber out of the bed, their heads covered in rough black cloth masks with eye holes cut in them and wearing nondescript jumpsuits and stand next to the truck.   You glance around and you’re in a shadow area between the street lamps.

The driver gets out slowly, an almost palpable feeling of menace from him.  The light from the trucks head lights reflect in his eyes and they gleamed for a moment like cat eyes.   It’s not until much later that you realize the absurdity of that thought.   That there was no way for the trucks light to be reflected from his eyes.

Felicia: “I put my hand bag behind me and step back a step and tell them I don’t have anything worth stealing.  Meanwhile I pull my daddy’s model 1911 out of the bag and hold it ready.  Daddy didn’t raise any fools.”

Director: “Okay, you can use Burglary or Stealth or even Social skills to see if you can hide the fact that you’re pulling a gun.  I assume your intent is to keep it hidden from view right now? ”
[Note: In LCA players are allowed even encouraged to try multiple skills that might apply to a situation.  Typically the Director will allocate 2 or 3 skills whatever is most applicable to an attempt.  The character can roll any of them that they're trained in and use the best result provided the skills are opposed to each other in fashion.   Some skills might have a penalty associated with them if they're less than fully applicable.  If the character doesn't have training in any of the associated skills they can still typically use one of them and make an untrained roll.  LCA tries to promote players being good at what they do and rewarding players who broaden their skillsets.

The Director has set that Stealth and Burglary are both good skills at concealing the drawing of a gun like this and neither has a penalty on it.  He also is going to allow Felicia to try using body language, movement, speech as a cover for drawing the gun letting her use her Social skill although with a penalty.]

Felicia: “That’s right.  I don’t have Burglary or Stealth but I do have Social.  ”

Director: “The dim lighting makes it hard to see anything clearly and they all seem busy focusing on the cleavage you’re showing and the way you’re batting your lashes, at least they don’t say anything.”
[Note: The director made a group perception check, assigned the standard lighting penalties and the guys confronting Felicia rolled lower than her.   Group checks are made in one of two ways, either a single roll with a bonus for each person in the group or one person is designated the leader and each of the rest of the group makes a roll with the leader getting a penalty for each person that failed and a bonus for each person that succeeded in a better than average fashion.  Which method is used is at the whim and discretion of the Director and the skills involved.]

Driver: The driver moves toward you but stops out of arms reach.   His voice is calm, very mundane, ordinary and conversational but it leaves you feeling somehow undressed.  ”Evening ma’am.  Bein’ a stranger ‘n all, you might not know we likes our privacy.  Don’t like people pokin’ their noses in our business.  You all might best remember that when yo’re snoopin’ like y’ore doin’.”

Felicia: “He sounds like a bit of a hick.”

Director: “You’ve had a lot of experience in dealing with people, getting their stories and the like. With this guy you get the impression that this man is educated but is intentionally talking down.  As he’s talking the other three are nodding or making sounds of agreement.”
[Note: This is a Secondary clue which is triggered by having certain skills or knowledge without requiring a roll, in this case being Trained in Social or Deception.  If no one had the skill trained then the Director might allow those present to make an untrained roll to pick up this information.]

Felcia: “I would think you would want a killer caught and brought to justice.  My asking questions could help the authorities find him.”

Driver: “We deal with our own problems ma’am like the good lord intended a man to do.  An’ we’uns prefer it that a way.  You’d do best by yourself if you was to check out of room 12 in the boardin’ house, have yourself one last pancake breakfess at Lucy’s and then get in that black Plymouth of yores and just head yourself back to where y’all come from.”

Felicia: “Obviously he wants me to know he’s been keeping an eye on me.”

Director: “Evening everyone.”  A voice cuts through the night air.  Felicia to your right about 20′ up the sidewalk stands a man, handsome with classic features, skin naturally dark or tanned by exposure to the sun.  He’s wearing a suit like most men although the jacket is unbuttoned.  In his right hand is a package about the size of a man’s forearm wrapped in brown paper and twine.

The driver’s head whips around and a cobweb he must of walked through recently catches the light, trailing off the mask.   You can use Social and Perception to notice something.

Oscar you entered town just a few minutes ago and were walking the streets to get a feel for the place when you came across this tableau.   A woman dressed well although really showing too much cleavage to be a proper lady apparently being accosted by four gentleman wearing hoods.  There is a pickup idling at the curb pointed away from you.  The woman has her hands behind her back clutching her purse it looks like.  Give me a perception check.”
[Note: Without making a big thing about it the Director has provide a Primary Clue, the cobweb.  Clues are not always obvious.]

Felicia: “Perception 22, Social 10.”

Oscar: “Perception 16″

Director: “Felecia you get the impression that the driver is both surprised and possibly a little nervous when he heard Oscar.  Like he didn’t expect anyone to get that close perhaps.  Oscar, sorry the dim lighting penalty reduces your roll to a 13 so a failure.  The man standing next to the truck also startles a bit and leans in and pulls out an battered axe handle, shoving it toward one of the others who takes it.  The driver stares at you Oscar.”

Oscar: “Now now, we can all be friendly here.  There’s no need of that.” I say pointing at the axe handle.  I look them over, do they look armed other than the obvious good ol’ boy clubs?”

Director: “There aren’t any firearms or knives in sight if that’s what you mean, holstered or un-holstered.  But you get a vibe from the one standing closest to the woman, a dangerous vibe like this guy knows how to handle himself.”
[Note: This is also a Triggered clue, based on two triggers, a character has to say they're looking at the group closely or ask for details on them and have the Occult skill.  Felicia has the occult skill but hasn't expressed out loud that she's examining them.  It's a subtle thing but the system is designed to get players to participate and be engaged in what's going on rather than passive viewers of events.]

Driver: He cocks his head eyeing you and the package you’re holding, and then nods slightly almost a gesture of recognition or acknowledgement.  He turns back to you Felicia, “You have yourself a pleasant evenin’ ma’am.  And give some thought to my advice, be a shame to see a pretty woman like yourself get in any kind of a jam from pokin her pretty little reporter nose where it doan belong.”  He then slides back into the open door of the truck and the others climb back into the bed.  It clicks into gear and then pulls slowly and smoothly away, the men in back staring at both of you until it disappears around a corner a couple of blocks down the street.

Felicia: “Well that was interesting.  I take a closer look at my savior.”

Oscar: “You see a man dressed in a dark grey suit, not cheap, not expensive.  His hair is cut close and recently barbered, he’s a man that apparently takes care of his appearance but not excessively so.  He has black hair, high cheekbones, tanned skin, better than average looking although his left eye has a tendency to blink.  He’s holding a package wrapped in brownpaper, irregular in shape but about 18″ long and 2 or 3 inches across.   He’s not wearing a hat, unusual in the north but not so much here in the south.   His hands have a couple of old scars on them and another one is visible that starts at the front of his neck and then curves around and down into his collar.  I walk over to her and stop a few feet away.  ”Good evening miss. Everything okay here?”

Felicia: “I turn on the charm, bat my eyes, breathe deep, the usual thing.  I want to hear this guys story.  ”I’m fine sir…?”

Oscar: “Oscar, Oscar Smith at your service miss.”

Felicia: “Funny, you don’t look like a Smith.”

Oscar: “Life’s strange that way sometimes.  Who were your friends?”

Felicia: “Those were so not my friends Mr. Smith.”

Oscar: “Please, just Oscar.”

Felicia: “Then you can call me Felicia.”

[More player discourse here as they learn who they are, Felicia telling him she's here about the story of the murders, Oscar claiming to be in town to sell rugs.  They compare notes and Oscar ends up staying at the same boarding house.  It doesn't come as a surprise that there is a room available for him.]

The next day Felicia discovers her car has been covered with splashes of red paint but no other damage done to it.

During this time Oscar has canvassed the town, ostensibily checking with people about rugs but trying to see if he can get any information or spot anything.  He comes up empty for the most part but there’s definitely something that’s setting off his spidey senses about this town and he feels he’s come to the right place.

That evening the manager gives her a note when she comes back from dinner, it’s apparently written by a barely literate person, asking her to come out to a crossroads just north of town where they’ll tell her about the murders.  She’s to bring money, cash money.  At least $15.  If she wants to hear the whole story.  She’s supposed to after sunset.

Being no fool she debates that all of 10 seconds then seeks out Oscar and asks if he’ll accompany her to the meeting.

Oscar agrees and as the sun is setting they get into her car, still splashed with red paint and head off to the indicated spot, Oscar bringing a small valise with him, just smiling when she asks and saying it’s a picnic lunch if they get hungry.

Director: “The sun has gone down during the drive out and it’s twilight, just enough light to keep your eyes from adjusting properly and not enough to see by.   The crossroad is deserted as far as you can see, the loud buzz of cicadas fighting with the chirping of crickets filling the hot still air.   Rows of corn stand tall and angle off in the fields off the roads and scarecrows stand watch guarding against thieving birds.”

Felicia: “I find a good place to pull off the road and we sit and wait I guess.”

Oscar: “I pass the time telling her about my rug sells and the benefits of wool over cotton and all that.  I’m also keeping an eye and ear out.  My bag is on the seat next to me unlocked.”

Director: “As the light gets darker and the stars start to come out you hear scream, a woman’s scream you’re pretty sure from the cornfields to your right.”

Felicia: “I pull my pistol out of my bag.”

Oscar: “I take Betsy out, she’s still wrapped in paper but I slip my finger through the hole in the paper at the trigger guard.”

Felecia: “What is that?”

Oscar: “Big Sandwich.”

Felicia: “Big sandwich?”

Oscar: “Si, big sandwich.  The cordoba.”

Felicia: “Is there another scream?  I listen watching in all directions.”

Director: “Felicia, this doesn’t feel right to you sitting in the car like this when something newsworthy is going on. You know the story’s not in the car, it’s happening out there in the corn field….”
[Note: The director is invoking Felicia's Trait "Anything for a story."  If she accepts she'll get a Rewrite.]

Felicia: “Crap, I’m missing the story!”  I exit the car, notebook and pencil in one hand, pistol in the other.”

Oscar: “Well this is the smart play.  I pull a flashlight out of my bag and go after her.”

Director: “The second scream seems closer or at least louder.   The dried grasses on the side of the road crackle and crunch under your feet.  Give me a Perception check?  Okay… never mind.”
[Note: Both players fail to notice that the insects have all stopped making noise.  Because it's not critical to the scene but it might have impacted their behavior this is tertiary information/clue and subject to a skill check. Some randomness is encouraged in LCA although we encourage you to choose not to let it drive the story, only influence it.]

Felicia: “I stop at the edge of the corn field, how high is it?  Can I hear any more screams?”

Director: “The corn is thick, probably near to being harvested and higher than your head easily.  The rows run at a slant making it impossible to see directly ahead.   You do hear some rustling noises like someone is moving through the field toward you, possibly stumbling as if they’re hurt or drunk.”

Felicia: “Riiiiight.  I start backing up and put my pistol in my right hand.”

Oscar: “I’ve seen the darkness, I get ready. If it’s someone hurt I’ll help them but if it’s a trap, I’m ready for it.”

Director: “As you ready yourself let’s have some Perception rolls…  Okay,  Felicia you hear something coming from behind you, Oscar you’re too focused on what’s in front of you.  Felicia you turn your head and two shadowy figures emerging.  Oscar if you want to invoke your Seen The Darkness trait, we can re-shoot the start of this scene a tiny smidge and you’ll have succeeded on your check as well and you won’t be surprised at what’s about to happen.”
[Note: The Director is offering an opportunity for Oscar to invoke one of his own traits and giving him a moderate beneficial result for it, in this case allowing him to notice what's going on without having to roll again. The Director gets a Rewrite for his own pool for this if Oscar wants to do it.  Remember, invocation is always the player's choice.]

Oscar: “Hmmm, yeah sure.”

Director: “In spite of the noise from in front of you some small noises from behind you make you turn to look.  You also notice of a sudden that the crickets and cicadas and indeed all other bugs have stopped making any noise and have been since the scream.  In the silence the rustle of the corn stalks is quite audible.  As they get out of the shadows you see the figures are dressed in rough clothing, baggy patched pants and shirt, work gloves and scuffed boots, with a burlap mask over their heads with eye holes cut in it  One is holding a thick heavy pole of wood, the other a axe.   They’re covered in bits of corn silk and leaves, cobwebs and their clothes are dirty.  Good hygiene obviously isn’t their strong suit.  From the side with the screamer the noises are getting closer.

You can see all this very clearly as the entire scene is bathed the bright lights of a car as it comes down the other road of the intersection and makes the turn.  Brakes screech and springs creak as the driver slams it to a halt.  Everyone freezes in their place as a door silently opens and an authoritative calm voice asks….”

Mann: “So… what’s this all about?”
[Note: The director has finally gotten all three characters together for the big opening scene...  A little contrived of course but then what meeting of a group of characters just starting out isn't?  In this encounter are some characters still waiting off stage, a girl who is being used as bait and another couple of bad guys.  

Mann's arrival has essentially interrupted the scene in this specific instance and disrupted the surprise round.  This is really a Director Fiat and done for climatic effect rather than mechanics.  Normally characters joining a scene in motion simply jump in on the next initiative order and roll normally." 

Encounter - Round 1- 

Felicia: 8S    Mann: 6D   Oscar: 3C   South SCs: 4C   North SCs: 6C    Girl: 8H 

Director: "Okay all the players should roll Deduction, Social, Perception, all of those you have Trained.  If you don't have any of them then just go with whichever one has the smallest penalty."
[Note: Director has set up three skills to get certain information to the players.   The players roll their skills and all three succeed with varying degrees of success.]

Director: “Felecia you feel that this newcomer is probably not with these guys coming out of the corn fields.  Oscar you immediately get a strong “Cop Vibe” from this guy, you’re certain he’s a cop or military of some kind.   Ben you read the actors on this particular stage and it’s a pretty easy read, the guys in masks are probably the bad guys. You also note that the woman is holding a a weapon of some kind tucked down at her side in the folds of her dress and you’re pretty sure that’s not a pepperoni wrapped up in the paper that the man is holding.”

Felicia: “I defer and see what happens.  I’m not going to just shoot someone out of hand.”
[Note: Felicia is going to hold her actions and wait to see what happens before she acts.  She'll be able to jump into the initiative order after anyone she wants or can try to interrupt another character's turn with an opposed check using Int or Grace.] 

 Girl: A girl with blood soaked clothing comes stumbling out of the fields, it’s a safe bet she’s the source of the screams.  Slashes have been carved into her torso and face, not enough to be immediately lethal but they’re pouring with blood.  One of the slashes on her face crosses across one eye and it’s destroyed.  Her remaining eye sees the two men across the road first, highlighted as they are by Ben’s head lights and she screams and starts to back up then turns and looks behind her and then feints dead away on the spot, collapsing in a heap.

Mann: “Well this shit don’t fly for a Gman, not at all.  I shout out in my drill sergeant voice, “Everyone freeze!  Federal Bureau of Investigation.  I want you all on your knees now while I sort this out!  I’ll defer my actions until I see what happens.”

Director: “Nice.  The two guys on the road ahead of, their heads tilt in unison and simultaneously and stare at you in a creepy kind of way.  Or so you believe since the burlap covers their entire head and down into their shirt collars.  The eye holes are just slashes in the cloth, probably obscuring their vision to some degree.  They don’t move for a moment and then both of them charge you with a stilted clumsy gait.    They’re a little slow but once they get moving they can cover some ground.  They don’t look like they’re going to invite you out for a beer and round of pool.”

Mann: “Out come my twin hand cannons.  ’FREEZE OR I’LL SHOOT!’”

Director: “They’re so not freezing.”

Mann: “Okay before they reach me I’m going to double tap each one, trying to wound rather than kill but if in doubt I’d rather have to write a report on a corpse than have someone write a report on my corpse.”
[Note: Okay there's a lot going on with that simple declaration.  First Ben needs to see if he can beat the targets by making opposed Intellect/Grace rolls.  Each side uses whichever they want.    If he wins the roll he gets to act at any point during their move.  If he fails he acts at the end of their turn.  

He makes his Intellect roll versus both of the the targets rolls which choose to use Grace.   He gets to act during their turn. 

Now he doesn't have his pistols drawn and while you can draw a single item as a free action, drawing two pistols (or whatever) counts as complex action.   He pulls both pistols but will now incur a -2 CAP or Complex Action Penalty on his attack rolls as a result since he will have performed two complex actions on his turn.  If he'd of tried to run as well he'd be looking at a -4 penalty on each action. 

Mann has twin M1911 Colt .45's which have the Double Tap tweak.   Tweaks are how weapons, especially firearms gain their real differentiation.   In a setting like this typically characters don't have to pay with character build points to add a basic tweak but in many settings especially those with Energy users they would.    The double tap incurs a -3 penalty but the character makes two attack rolls and takes the highest.  If the attack hits it also deals +2 damage.   Mann's primary hand thus has an attack roll of 3d8+Ranged Skill(+3)-3(Double Tap) - 2 (CAP) for a total of 3d8-2 and it will deal 2d6+2 damage (+2 for the double tap).  The off hand has an attack roll of 3d8+3(Ranged Skill)-3(double tap)-3(offhand)-2(CAP) or 3d8-5 and deals 2d6+2(double tap) damage.   This is all simpler than it looks and a lot of can all be pre-computed since it doesn't vary very often and noted on the players sheets or you can even have 'item' cards with the fill in the blanks for stats.]

Director: “The rolling thunder of the newcomer’s 45′s blasts through the strange silence of the night, covering up the jerky footsteps of the two men.  The heavy lead slugs punch holes staggering them but they seem to ignore the damage although they’re stopped in their tracks for a moment.  Ben you’ve seen plenty of body hits so you’re more than a little surprised when the two men don’t drop to the ground, those were solid center of mass hits.   Felicia, you an Oscar see the backs of each man’s shirt punch out as the bullets pass through.  Give me perception checks?”
[Note:  Ben's AR's on the first guy, 21, and 15 on the second after adjusting the values and taking the highest of the two rolls.  Range attacks always use a target number of 15.  After determining the Success Level the first guy is hit for 3d6+2 and second one for 2d6+2, both chest hits using the random hit location chart.  The Director or the player could just as easily simply announced where the bullets impact.  Benn doesn't dick around.  Damage is 10 and 9 respectively.   Both targets are dazed (or would be), they have a PDR of 7 which means they're both Level 1 hits and thus simply dazes them but they lose the rest of their turn.  Unfortunately for our heroes these creatures have a Knack called Automaton which among other things means they are never Dazed.]

Director: “Felicia and Oscar you see something really odd.  Sticking out of the mens backs through the holes in their shirts is what appears to be nothing more or less than ichor covered straw.    Ben, you spot the same thing only from the front which is the side you can see.  A pale pink, thin fluid is spreading out in a stain on their dirty shirts and chopped straw is poking through the bullet holes.   This whole scene is now officially weird enough that it has a chance to creep you out.   It counts as Sanity Attack +0 which if it hit hits your Resilience you’ll suffer some mental damage from it.  But as it turns out, you’re all made of pretty stern stuff and while it’s certainly creepy as heck, you’ve seen worse apparently.”
[Note: In settings that use Sanity, at any given time that the Director thinks there's sufficient creep factor in play he will make a Sanity Attack against some or all of the players.   This works just like a physical attack except it targets the character's Resilience, their ability to see horrible things and emerge unaffected.  If they're unable to avoid the shock then damage is rolled, against just like physical except it targets the characters MDR or mental damage resistance.   If enough damage is rolled the target could be Dazed or could suffer  partial mental damage or even be driven completely insane.   Sanity damage is typically inflicted rather sparingly and mental damage requires special training to recover from, not First Aid and a character who is driven insane is typically lost for the better part of most campaigns.  But if you wanted to run a Purist Cthulhu setting then there might be something that will drive you mad around each corner.]

South: “Oscar a crashing noise draws your attention to the field that the girl emerged from.  You can see corn stalks being pushed aside as something, some two things probably are rushing toward the roadway. ”

Oscar: “Madre de dios!  I make the sign of the cross.  I take a chance and shout out to the cop, “We’re on your side!  Don’t take this the wrong way!” and I move toward the two figures to here and then put both barrels into this guy here.”
[Note: Oscar is using a double barreled shotgun.  Weapons are classified as 1H or 2H based on their damage.  In this case it's a 2H weapon, Shotguns are typically always 2H, and have a base of 3d6 as a result.    Double barreled and shotgun descriptors both have unique mechanics associated with them.  A double barrel weapon can have both barrels fired as a single attack at the same target but the damage is treated as two separate damages they are not totaled.   In addition for double barreled weapons a user must spend an action to ready them again if both barrels are used.

A 2H double barreled weapon can be used such that each barrel hits a different target but in this case it counts the same as wielding 2 2H weapons which incurs a -5 penalty on top of any other penalties.   Firing both barrels at a single target does not have this penalty.

Shotguns due to the nature of their projectile inflict their damage in normal range like any other weapon but in long range the damage is reduced to 1d6 but affects all targets in a burst 1  centered on the initial target square.   It is also easier to hit with a shotgun so they gain an inherent +2 bonus.]

Director: “Okay let’s work this out, you moved but didn’t run so no effect.  It’s a shotgun so +2 on the attack roll, you’re in normal range at 5 squares so 3d6 damage.   Your skill is 3 so  a total of +5 so far.  Are we missing anything? Okay roll it.”

Oscar: “19 total.  Range always targets a 15.  19-15 is 4 rounded up is a Level 1.  On the plus side both barrels hit.  The first barrel does 9 damage, +3 because its dazed?”

Director: “Actually they do not looked dazed at all…”

Oscar: “Well crap.  Okay 9 damage.   The second barrel does 12 damage?”

Director: “Brown paper explodes in all directions off the shotgun, instantly charring and flaring up as both barrels of the stubby 12 gauge fill the road with noise and light.  One load of buckshot rips through the man, more red stained straw busting out like an overstuffed kids toy.  The other barrel punches a whole through the man you could put your fist through and stained straw fragments float down on the far side, gleaming in a sick fashion in the car lights.  The man’s head swivels to stare at you tilting off to the side turning so far that a normal person would probably have a broken neck and the slit in the burlap curves up just like a mouth would in a smile.  Elongated teeth glisten in the dark cavity highlighted by head lights, stained a dull carmine color.  The head goes back and high pitched cackling laugh blasts out, loud enough to hurt your ears and leave them ringing.  Mental Stress attack for everyone – Felicia you and Benn are spared the full horror of the sight but Oscar you were staring right at the creature from close range.  You stagger backwards Dazed and freaked out.”
[Note: Oscar hit with a Level 1 on the 9 damage attack, the creatures have a 7 PDR and a Level 2 on the second barrel at 12 damage.  The target takes Stress of 1 (Damage Level - 1).  Because the creatures can't be Dazed they're going to have to deal more damage than normal to take them out but Oscar was able to do 1 Stress.  They're Henchman class creatures so they  can only take 2 Stress or 1 Trauma before collapsing   Because this is another pretty freakish sight the Director rolled another sanity attack on them which 'missed' Ben and Felecia but Oscar was 'hit' with it.  The damage was enough to Daze him.]

 Encounter – Round 2- 

Felicia: 3C    Mann: 6D   Oscar: 3C   South SCs: 4C   North SCs: 6C    Girl: Unconscious

Mann: “Crap I can’t let a civilian be in danger and he looks a little shocky.  I’m going to try and Taunt the bastards to keep coming after me and try to take the one down that the spanish guy shot with the shotgun with a single shot from each pistol.”
[Note: Mann is Untrained in Taunt so he suffers a -2 (base of -5 but his Intellect is 3) on his skill roll.  On top of that he's performing two Complex actions so suffers an -2 on everything he does.   The Taunt fails.  With his primary gun he rolls a critical failure.  The Director tells him that the gun has jammed using the Critical Failure chart for Ranged and he's going to have to try and unjam it by spending a action on the attempt and making a Ranged skill check.   The other shot ends up missing as well.  Mann spends a Rewrite to re-roll the second shot, by default you cannot spend rewrites to reroll critical failures unless you have a Knack for it.    He gets a Level 3 hit which adds 2d6 to his attack roll and generates a level 3 damage effect.  This causes 2 Stress (Level - 1) and 1 Trauma (Level - 2) to the target.  The target as a Henchman class NPC can only take 2 Stress and 1 Trauma and stay active.  It has now taken 3 Stress and 1 Trauma which takes it out of the fight.  These particular creatures have a special 'feature' when they're rendered unconcious or dead they burn with a high degree of pyrotechnics.]

Director: “Your words seem to have no effect on them as they turn toward Oscar and there’s a chunk metallic crunch as the slide on your right hand pistol chews up an empty shell casing and locks up.   Your other pistol though blasts another hole through the man or whatever it is, revealing more stained straw and it totters forward and then collapses.   An instant later it flares in a firey light too bright to look at and hot enough to feel the heat of at 30′.   I need everyone to make a Grace check or your vision is going to be moderatly impaired for one round and you’ll be at a -3 on any skill rolls requiring sight.”

North: The other man, creature’s clothing starts to char but it doesn’t combust yet as the heat of its companion burns fiercly next to it.  The head swivels loosely like an owl’s between Ben and Oscar and then it stumbles forward toward Oscar covering the ground swiftly for all its uncoordinated movements.  Oscar it punches a fist at you and…”

Oscar: “I try and dodge the blow!”
[Note: Oscar is using the Dodge manuever which lets a character use some or all of either their Grace or Intellect as a bonus to their Evasion.  They suffer the same value as a penalty on their skill rolls on their next turn.  In this case Oscar can add up to 2 points.]

Director: “It rolled a 19 versus your 15, the dodge won’t help.”

Oscar: “Damn, okay.  Let me have it.”

North: “The fist punches you in the chest and feels like solid wood rather than flesh and bone.  It rolls a 12, adds +4 for its strength, yes it’s that strong, and +3 because you’re dazed.  It’s a level 3 hit, you’re going to take 2 Stress and 1 Trauma.”

Oscar: “I can’t take a broken rib right now, I’m going to try and Shake It Off.  Damnit a 7.  Okay one more time. That’s more like it!  22! That’s a level 2 result which drops it’s level 3 to a 1. I take no damage at all, just stay dazed.”
[Note: Oscar spent two rewrites to mitigate this damage. One to trigger the Shake It Off roll and the second to re-roll the SIO roll when it sucked.]

North: “You slide to the side just in time to feel that heavy fist graze your chest, you can sense the immense strength it has.  A green bioluminescent light gleams deep in the eye slits and you can feel its anger at you escaping its blow.”

South: “Two more men dressed in similar clothing and burlap masks, covered in straw, bird crap, spider webs and fresh blood streaking their gloved hands burst from the South fields onto the road and immediately split up, one going after Felicia who’s the closest and the other going for Oscar.  It’s almost as if they knew what they’d find before they even cleared the dense corn stalks.  They’re not going to be able to reach you and still have time to do anything but Felicia this one is going to be in arms reach and Oscar this one is only going to be about 10′ away.”

Felicia: “Well halibut, this is bad, I heard the sonic boom when that guy swung at Oscar.  Umm how fast do I think they are?”

Director: “You would guess they’re just a little slower than you are.”

Felicia: “Discretion is my watchword, I’m going to run like hell toward the cop’s car and get behind it.”
[Note: Felecia is going to move twice in one turn or double move which means she can take no other actions.  She's going to be hard to hit at range (ranged attacks take -4 because she's running twice which is -2 each) and have a hard time hitting anything (she takes -4 on all physical skill rolls) and if anything gets in melee range she's going to be easy to hit (-4 on her Evasion) but for her purposes right now the benefits outweigh the cons.]

Oscar: “*sigh* Okay I try to recover and… of course not.  We’re getting some crappy rolls this encounter.  I can blow my last Rewrite to get undazed or I stay Dazed for this turn.  Which does what again?”

Director: “You are Slowed, you suffer a -3 penalty to all skill rolls and you take +3 damage from any attacks and you  can only take a single action.”

Oscar: “Riiiight.  Okay I’ve got this bastard in my face and this son of a bitch coming up fast.  They hit like a brick house even if I’m not dazed.   It takes an action to reload both barrels.  And an action to draw the two pistols I have tucked under my coat.  So best combat option is reload one barrel and shoot one of them to get the bigger damage potential.  Or I spend my last rewrite to get Undazed and try to get some room, probably try and scrape them off on the cop, no offense.”

Ben: “None taken.”

Oscar: “Okay, I sprint after Felcia.”

North: “As you shake your head and recover your senses and sprint toward the possible safety of the late arrivals car the creature punches at you.”

Oscar: “Aww crap, opportunity attack?”

Director: “Yep, you moved out of a threatened square.  And because you’re running, are you running?”

Oscar: “Ummm maybe…?  Do I need to run in order to get to the car? ”

Director: “This is me rolling my eyes.  If I was you, and I’m not,  I’d only run once and regular move the other time  Or just regular move twice.  The reason being it makes you less easy to hit.  If you make one run action they’re going to be at +2 to hit you with a melee attack. If you run twice they’re going to be at +4. ”

Oscar: “Move of 6, run of 8.  If, I, well never mind, if I move twice it has to move twice to catch up which means it can’t attack me.  Right? I just move twice and give it no bonus and I’m going to reload my shotgun as I move.”

North: “The creature smashes a fist out at you but you duck under it as you move quickly toward the cop’s car.  FYI if you’d of run twice it would have hit you.”

Encounter – Round 3- 

Felicia: 7D    Mann: 6D   Oscar: 3C   South SCs: 4C   North SCs: 6C   Girl: Unconscious

Felicia: “They should be highlighted well.  I’m going to brace myself on the car and take aim and try to hit something vital.”
[Note: The Director is going to give her a situation bonus of +2 for bracing herself with the car, he'll penalize her by making this the only action she can take but since it's all she was going to take anyway...  The Vitals shot is -3 but deals +1d6 damage.  Felicia's player is trying to boost her damage output after seeing that the creature's can't be dazed.  On average a Vitals shot yields less damage than a non-vitals statistically but sometimes you just gotta go with what feels right.  She rolls a 15, +2 for the brace, -3 for the Vitals for a 14.  Which is a miss.   The player chooses to spend 4 Stunt Points on Lucky Shot which grants a +2 bonus for the purposes of turning a miss into a hit.  She also rolled double 7's giving her 7 stunt points back which will restore her stunt pool back to it's max of 4 after her turn.  So she hit and deals 3d6 damage, 2d6 base for the 1H weapon and +1d6 for the Vitals shot.  She rolls  7 damage.  And spends a rewrite to try again and gets a 15 this time turning a Level 1 damage into a Level 2 and inflicting 1 Stress to the target.

Note: In this case going for the Vitals shot paid off.  If she hadn't of tried for it she'd of ended up with an 18 which would have been a Level 1 hit or base 2d6 damage.  But again, statistically unless you're hitting an unarmored location or the target takes extra damage from a Vitals shot, a normal shot will pay off more often over the long run.   But sometimes you gotta go with high risk for short term gains.]

Director: “The creature that had swung at Oscar twice jerks  as creepy stuffing blows out of his neck, if something in a mask could be said to look unhappy, it does.  The other one that Ben put down has left nothing more than a dark patch on the asphalt.”

Mann: “I sprint around to the trunk and open it and grab my Tommy gun. I don’t want to try and put these guys down with a jammed pistol, I’ll fill this one with lead!”
[Note: The player only needs to Move and not Run to reach the back of his car.  In the interests of "Letting players be Awesome!" the Director is going make opening the truck and pulling out the gun one Complex Action.   Due to the angle of the car Ben will be able to simply open fire on one of the men, he'd have to move to get to the other set of two.  The Thompson is a 2H weapon with the Full Auto Tweak.  This allows for Burst fire and Full Auto.   He's going to use Full Auto.  This allows him to roll three attacks on the target.  The first attack is a -1, the second attack is at -3, the third attack is at -5.    With his Skill 3 in Ranged stacks this gives him attack rolls of +2, 0, and -2.   He ends up with a 15, 16 and 8.   He gets two hits on the man, putting two heavy .45 slugs through its chest for damage totals of 20 and 3 (yes he rolled three 1's on 3d6.  It happens).   20-7 is 13.  Divide that by 5 and round up and you have a level 3 hit.  Which inflicts 2 stress and 1 Trauma on the creature. ]

Director: “Your slugs chew through its center of mass like a knife through butter and some larger slimy brown chunks come blasting out its back, you recognize them as wood but covered in the same foul substance.    Its top half flops and then folds back and it collapses to the ground and then immediately ignites.   Everyone make a Grace or Intellect check at +5, you expect the fire and light show this time and should have an easier time avoiding it.”

South: “They pursue Felicia and Oscar with grim determination chasing them as they run away and end up just out of arms reach next to Ben’s car here. ”

 Oscar: “I snap my double barrel shut and put both barrels into this one and then I’m going to back up to the rear of the car and see what else the cop might have back in the trunk.   Oh yeah 20 and since I got double 7′s I’m going to burn some stunt points.  2 points to push it back one square and another 2 points to blow out a kneecap and make Slowed on it’s next turn.   The other barrel, oh yeah!  28.  The dice, they have turned!.  That’s a level 2 and level 3 hit so 4d6 damage hits.  15 damage and 22 damage.  Goodnight Gracie.  I put one barrel into its leg, severing it completely and the other one punches a hole through its chest knocking it back several feet.  I avoid looking at it expecting it to burst into flame.”
[Note:  Oscar had some nice rolls and had a level 2 and level 3 hit on the creature which granted him +1d6 and +2d6 on the other.  Typically ranged diced are capped at 4d6 but Shotguns in their normal range are the exception and are capped at 5d6 just like 2H melee weapons.]

Director: “You race toward the car with the creatures lumbering after you, digging some shells out of a pocket you reload your shotgun on the  run and then spin as you reach the car and take a snap shot.   One load of buckshot blows the left leg clean off you can see a ichor covered 2×4 shattered and sticking out the ends.  The other load punches it backwards and it falls down exploding into flames.  Nice shot, here have a rewrite for your awesomeness.  You then skip back here and can see a pump action shotgun in the back of the car along with some luggage.”

Mann: “Hands to yourself, that’s government property!” I snap at him when I see him eyeing my toys.

Encounter – Round 4- 

Felicia: 8D    Mann: 6D   Oscar: 3C   South SCs: JD     Girl: Unconscious

South: “The masked figure if anything picks up speed and reaches the front of Mann’s car, without slowing down it slams into the front of the car and there are terrible sounds of metal crumpling and folding and the car is blasted backwards.  Directly at Ben and Oscar and Felicia the open driver’s door is going to catch you as well.  This counts as an Area of Effect attack so first everyone gets a chance to try and dive out of the area.  Make an basic Grace check and end up in the nearest empty spot prone, if you also have Acrobatics trained then you roll both and take the higher and aren’t prone.  Oscar since you’re directly behind the car with the trunk lid up, take a -3 penalty because the attack is moderately obscured and you simply didn’t see it coming.    Ben you dive off to here, the nearest square out area,  Felicia you end up here as you juke the door coming at you.  Oscar unfortunately you just weren’t fast enough, the car bumper slams into your knees and you take a Level 1 hit and are dazed.   You fall forward into the trunk and the lid comes slamming down on the back of your legs adding insult to injury.”

Felicia: “What exactly happened?  Where did everything end up?”

Director: “The man ran straight at the front for the car and slammed into with tremendous force send the vehicle sliding backwards almost 10 feet.  The engine gave a couple of loud tearing clanking noises and then died and steam is filling the area in front of the car as the radiator spews fluids everywhere.  The car is ruined most likely and it’ll take some major overhauls to get it working again.    Under the car you can see the late arrival on the ground but safely out of the path of the car.  Of Oscar there is no sign from your position.   The man rebounded from the car and is standing here about 15′ away from you.”

Felicia: “And it looks fine after hitting the car?!  Okay from a prone position I get a bonus on ranged attacks right?”

Director: “Right, you get a +2 for Braced.”

Felicia: “Okay I’m going to double tap it from here then scramble up and around the car toward the guy with the machine gun.”
[Note: Felicia has a  Range 0, =2 for Braced, -3 for Double Tap and ends up with a... Critical Failure.]

Director: “The oddest thing happened, it wasn’t until you pulled the trigger that you noticed cylinder of your revolver had come open and all your shells are now laying scattered on the ground around you.”

Felicia: “Oh…M….G….  Okay I have more in my purse.  Which is in the car.  Okay then, off to get saved by the machine gun guy.”

Director: “You lunge to your feet and flee around the car, you can see a pair of legs sticking out of the trunk from under the lid.   On the other side the guy with the machine gun is pulling himself together on the ground.”

Ben: “I check that it is the woman and not something worse and then I stand up and pour slugs into that thing from the tommy gun.”
[Note:  Ben is going to use Autofire and has attack rolls of  +2, 0, -2 and gets an 18, 7 and 18 as his final rolls.  Two hits at 3d6 damage and gets 7 and 8 damage.  Both Level 1 hits because the creatures don't suffer dazed they have no impact.]

Director: “Your slugs punch holes through the creature but don’t seem to do it any harm.  Pink fluid sprays out, bright in the headlights of the other car, your own headlights are now just shattered glass.”

Oscar: “I seem to go last a lot.  Of course I’m still dazed.  Okay I just use my action to climb out of the trunk. Even Slowed I can do that.”

Encounter – Round 5- 

Felicia: 5S    Mann: JD   Oscar: 9S   South SCs: 2S     Girl: Unconscious

Mann: “Third verse, same as the first.  Rattatatttataattatat!”
[Note: Same odds, +2, 0, -2.   Ben gets  a 20, a 16 and a 27.   That's a Level 2, Level 1 and Level 3 hit.   That results in a 4d6, a 3d6 and a 5d6 damage.  The first burst yields 16 damage and inflicts 1 Stress, the second burst has no effect,  the last burst also inflicts 1 Stress.]

Director: “You’re automatic fire is turning the thing into swiss cheese but it’s still up although the pink fluid is spilling in copious amounts.   When it hits the pavement it flares and burns brightly.”

Oscar: “I grab the pump shotgun in the trunk, assuming it’s loaded and move around to here and put a blast into the thing.  21!  That’s a level 2 hit.  Damnit 12 damage, wait a minute it has a 7 PDR?  That’s a level 2 damage which causes 1 stress right?”

Director: “Correct, you step around the car and level the cop’s shotgun on the creature and ratchet back the slide loading a 12 gauge shell.  Centering the sights on the things head you pull the trigger and its head explodes in a spray of pink fluids, wood and straw and then the body detonates in flame burning from the top down like a magnesium wire.”

Oscar: “Sweeet!”

Director: “Everything seems really quiet for a moment as you take stock.   The corn fields rustle with the faint night breeze but nothing hostile or ominous in the sound.   The men are nothing more than black patches on the pavement, patches that the next rain will probably wash away.   Ben your car’s radiator is winding down, the pressure of the hot water finally vented as steam.”

Ben: “I rush over to the girl, how’s she doing?”

Felicia: “I follow him, I know a little something about first aid.”

Director: “It doesn’t take much skill to see she’s dead.  The slashes in her body were worse than they appeared at first and she’s bled out here on the pavement.”

Ben: “Well crap this is not the arrival I expected.  I ask the Spaniard to help me push my car out of the road so someone doesn’t run into it.  I’m going to have to requisition your vehicle just long enough to get to town.  I’m with the FBI and need to report these events and hand this girl over to the local authorities.

And then we need to talk…”

Continue reading »]]> Haven’t had a lot to post that would be of any real interest to anyone.  Finetuning a lot of mechanics by playtesting various genres.  Currently working on a 1940′s horror pulp to give guns a work out.  As a result I’ve had to modify the shotgun mechanic a bit, technically it’s the double barreled mechanic more than the shotgun.  A double barreled shotgun is a monster of a weapon and rightfully so but I don’t want it to be the THE weapon that everyone carries because nothing else makes sense.

As a result I’ve put some limits on it.  Each barrel counts as weapon.  Then we use the standard rules for 2H and 1H weapons.  To-wit you can use 1 2H weapon per turn or 2 1H weapons per turn.  You can dual wield 2H weapons if you really want to but take a -5 modifier on your attack roll.  That causes an immediate balance in damage output versus 1H weapons.

If you empty a double barrel weapon then you must take a Complex Action to reload it before you can use it again.  It’s the only official non-optional reload mechanic in the game.

What this should mean is that shotguns are reasonably balanced due to reduced range (half that of pistols) and increased damage (fire both barrels at the same target) and the penalties are such that if you dual wield your hit rate is dropped by enough to balance out the increased damage output.

I’m also ruminating on a new damage model that better reflects reality of combat without being so realistic it’s annoying to play.

Numbers are still being finetuned to make the math work with the perception of the math.  Two subtly different things.  The math of a mechanic might work for something perfectly but the ‘feel’ of a mechanic might not.   You have to balance the math with the feel but you have to do both.  You can’t just ‘wing’ it in game design or you’re going to end up with an obviously broken underlying model which can cause inequities between players of such a gross level that players stop having fun because they literally suck ass compared to other players.

I really need to work on playtesting each power, not just the cool ones.  It all just takes time.

Continue reading »]]> “LCA = FAE.  Fun, Awesome, Entertaining.”

Had an third party Alpha test this weekend.  Some issues obviously with one major game mechanic confusion that caused some big problems.  The tester had read some earlier posts about the mechanic I’d started with, dice pools and the alpha doc doesn’t have it explained in enough places for him to have caught the change.

But the rest seemed to go well, encounters were pretty quickly done which is what I’m shooting for. My ideal is to be able to have at least 4 combat or skill based encounters in any given gaming session with plenty of time left over for story based gaming.

In general some good feedback that will help me make the document clearer and more user friendly.   “It’s like Savage Worlds 2.0″ was an interesting comment which is what I am shooting for.  Ease of use, quick fast combats but with more tactical elements ala 4E DnD and more ways for a player to be engaged in what’s going on and more ways to be Awesome.

I’ve re-written/expanded the various sections that deal with the basic mechanics, below is the start of the Skill Chapter -

Chapter 3 – Skills

A character’s ability to perform difficult tasks in the world or recall uncommon knowledge is defined by their skills or lack there-of.
Skills determine a characters chances at doing anything above a simple degree of complexity in the world.  Shooting a gun, uncovering clues at a crime scene, reading ancient Sumatran, swinging on a chandelier, sneaking through mansion at night, these are all based on Skills.
Each skill has an associated stat which provides a bonus as ‘raw talent’ when character has had no formal training in the use of the skill.

A skill check is made anytime the character wishes to do something non-trivial.  If an task or knowledge would be trivial to perform or know there is no skill check involved.

For example, Climbing a ladder does not require an Athletics check but climbing a Rope would. Putting on a band-aid does not require a First Aid check but applying a tourniquet would. Chit Chatting at a party wouldn’t need a Social skill roll but negotiating a peace treaty between two rival nations would.

This can be setting dependent.  Driving a car to the store would be trivial for most adults in a modern setting.  Driving a car while in hot pursuit would not be and would require periodic Driving skill rolls.

Many skills can be attempted by someone untrained in their use.  But without at least a modicum of training the character will suffer a penalty on any attempt to use the skill or recall knowledge.

Some skills though can only be attempted by someone trained in the skill, anyone untrained attempting to use the skill garners an automatic failure.

Each skill has a general description of what it covers which is generally a fairly broad category and where necessary is also broken down into more specialized information on specific tasks that the skill can be used for.

SideBar: Mention Stat Rolls which use identical methodologies but there is not untrained or trained stat.

Procedure -
To use a skill you need to follow a few simple steps.  The list looks fairly long but it’s really quite simple.  All skill rolls are based on 3d8 for everyone and then you add penalties or bonuses to see how well you did or didn’t do -

1. Determine the correct skill to cover/use for whatever the task is at hand.
2. Determine if you’re trained or untrained in the skill
3. If you’re untrained then can the skill be used untrained?
4. If you can use the skill then roll 3d8.
5. If the dice can explode and they did, then complete the roll as necessary for explosions.
6. Add any associated penalties or bonuses for skill or the lack thereof and situational bonuses/penalties to achieve a final skill roll.
7. Compare the final result to a Target Number to determine success or failure.
8. Apply the results.

Skill Coverage -
The skills list is more a guideline of some the more typical skills found in most settings and are intended to be pretty broad in scope.  Athletics covers all things that that are primarily strength or fitness associated while Acrobatics covers all things more graceful and dexterous in nature for instance.

If there’s not a listed skill that covers an area you’re specifically looking to know then you are encouraged to use the General skills as a catch all for anything that you can’t find another skill to fit.   General Knowledge skills are simply that, you have knowledge of a subject which should be fairly broad.  Knowledge: Egypt rather than King Tut.   Practical Skills cover more a ‘doing’ than a ‘knowing’ skill.  Practical: Demolitions would for instance cover everything dealing with explosives, how to blow something up, how to store, create and move explosives safely and the best way to take down a building or open a door or dig a mine shaft.

Players are encouraged to come up with ways that skills can be applied to any given situation and Directors are encourage to allow them.  Assuming a valid case can be made of course, off hand I have trouble seeing how a high Social skill would allow you to climb a sheer cliff face for instance.  But some player somewhere might be able to come with some reason it’s applicable. Don’t simply rule it out out of hand.

Training vs No Training -

Obviously you can’t know every skill in a normal situation.  This means that you are Untrained in some skills and Trained or Ranked in others.

Even characters who are Untrained typically have at least some chance, small though it might be of figuring out a problem, coming up with some trivia or shooting blindly and succeeding at many given tasks.

But training, possessing Ranking in a skill goes a long way toward increasing your success rates and there are several skills that you must have Ranking in in order to even attempt them.

Untrained – If the skill is Untrained, you have no Ranking with it at all then you need to check to see if the skill can be used without training.  Each skill has an Untrained: Yes/No note on it.  As long at it says Yes you can attempt the skill even without training.

Untrained skills have some limitations on them and associated penalties that trained skill checks do not.  To wit, they suffer a flat -5 penalty to the dice roll and the dice do not explode.  To offset that the character can add the skills linked stat as a form of ‘raw abilty’ as a bonus.

To make an Untrained skill, you roll 3d8 and total the dice.  If you get an 8 on one or more dice you do not get to re-roll it.  Subtract 5 from the total.  Add your linked stat as a bonus.  Add/subtract any situational bonuses/penalties to determine your final skill roll and compute your Degrees of Success from that final total (total – TN)/5 rounded up.

Trained/Ranking – If you have Ranking in a skill then congratulations you get to enjoy several benefits in  your skill attempts that someone who doesn’t have your training forgoes.

Firstly when you roll your 3d8 you get to use the exploding mechanic that’s in use for your setting. This will typically mean that one or more of any 8’s you roll on your 3d8 get to be reolled 1 or more times and all the dice are totaled.

Secondly there is no standard flat penalty (-5) associated with a trained skill check.

Thirdly you get to add your Ranking as a bonus to your total.

Once you’re reached that total you add/subtract any situation bonuses/penalties and then compute your Degrees of Success.  (Total – TN)/5 rounded up.

Target Number -
In general all skill checks are compared to a Target Number of 15.  The exception to this are Melee skill checks and and Attacks on a characters Sanity.

Melee skill checks are compared to the target’s current Evasion value.  Note that Evasion can be modified through several mechanics, being Off Balance, Immoblized and Defensive Stance among others.  So always check that you’re comparing apples to apples.

Sanity Attacks target a character’s Resilience and made by the Director when something so grisly, so other worldly or just disturbing is inflicted upon a character in some fashion and are treated exactly like any other attack skill check with a damage roll made against the targets mental defenses.

Degrees of Success -
When you make a skill check it’s always nice to know how well you did or didn’t if you know what I mean.

This has a fairly easy mechanic that we call Degrees of Success.  To determine your DoS first make your skill check (untrained or trained as necessary) and then subtract the Target Number from the total you rolled.

If your result is negative you failed.  You’re done at this point typically.

if the number is positive you succeeded. To determine how well you did, you get one degree of success for each full and partial unit of 5 you end up with.  Simply divide the left over amount after subtracting the Target Number by 5 and round up.

Example:  Bob has a roll of 16 versus TN 15.   16-15 = 1 / 5 = .2 rounded up = 1.   Joe has a final roll of 28 vs TN of 17.  28-17 = 11 / 5 = 2.2 rounded up to 3.  Bill has a roll of 12 vs TN of 15.  12-15 is -3.  Sorry Bill, you failed.

In many cases it doesn’t matter how well you rolled subject to Director intervention.  But in many other cases it does.  Ranged and Melee combat skill checks and some Powers for instance get bonus damage dice for excess degrees of success after the first.   Many powers have more potent effects when you roll well on your skill checks.

Continue reading »]]> Was thinking about combat mechanics, hitting and percentages and such and circled back to my one roll to rule them all desired mechanic.

What if, instead of rolling to hit, you simply roll damage and compare it to the target’s defense.  If you don’[t deal enough damage to ‘hurt’ them, you missed.  If you do enough damage to hurt them, you hit.

You can then use skill and weapon potential, or perhaps a balance of the two to determine how much damage you rolled.

It’s kind of the inverse of the system I used in 4th Edition where players could choose (and they all did) to just roll to hit dice and take the average value of their damage rather than rolling damage.   So the to-hit number was the randomizing factor.

But what about making the hit automatic in essence and the damage being the randomizing factor.

In case you didn’t know, the more random something is the more it’s against the players in any game system.  The primary reason is the non-players are only rolling for a short time, typically a couple or three rounds definitely a single encounter for the vast vast majority of the time.   The players on the other hand are rolling random numbers from the time they’re created to the time they die.

That’s why critical hits and fumble charts are a seriously punitive mechanic against the players.  And to some extent hit location charts where random locations inflict drastic levels of damage.  It’s only a question of time before the player is killed by a random roll they have no control over.  They roll and are the target of rolls several orders of magnitude, at least, more often than NPC’s.   A critical hit table with a 1 in 100 chance of “lopping off the target’s head!” has a fixed end result statistically.  By the time the player has been attacked 100 times, they’re going to have their head cut off.

So the more random rolls a system incurs on the participants the steeper the uphill battle the players have to engage their enemies and avoid death and the less control they have of their fate.

So the question becomes how to make a one roll system and provide enough game mechanics to give it variety and incorporate all the various trope’ic builds?

Continue reading »]]> Stunt SystemV2

After play testing V1 I found the existing system led to some wasted rolls, getting stunt points on a skill check was a downer and very much not Awesome, and was ‘too’ random so this then is the newest system designed to alleviate those perceived isues.

Stunts give you a minor ability to customize a limited number of attacks and effects of attacks as you need them.  It brings some of the variety of 4E to this system but without as much stuff to remember to use.  And can be ignored if you don’t want to deal with the additional complexity and tactical options without causing you to be drastically impacted in terms of effectiveness.

Although a group (PC or NPC) that works tactically together using mob tactics, maneuvers, ploys and stunts should basically kick the ass an identical group that doesn’t.   But as usual with 10+ creatures to keep track of on top of the players the GM is less likely to use them effectively or at least as effectively as 4 people controlling 1 character each should be able to.

Each character starts each scene with pool of combat stunt points, the current number is 4.

The default pool maximum is also currently 4.  You can buy this pool up with Knacks to a 6 and an 8.   If you buy it up to an 8, you start with 6 Stunt Points.

Each time you roll doubles on any skill roll, you recover that many stunt points up to your maximum stunt pool.

You can only spend stunt points you had before you made the roll on any given roll.  So earned stunt points can be used on your next roll but not the same roll that generated them.

To spend stunt points you have to have made a successful combat skill (melee, range, energy) roll against a target.   So if you miss you don’t get to spend them, with one exception, there’s a stunt called Lucky Shot that lets you spend stunt points to turn a miss into a hit.

You can only buy one stunt from the general table and one stunt from the appropriate skill (melee, range, energy) table per round.  It can be an either/or purchase or both if you have the points to spend.

When you roll doubles on a skill roll, you recover the value of the number showing on the dice.  So if you roll double 6’s you recover 6 stunt points.   If you roll triples on a skill roll your stunt pool is set to full regardless of what you roll.  Note you gain Stunt Points even on a critical failure (double 1′s).

Stunt points not spent are lost.  You can’t go over your maximum, any excess recovered stunt points are lost.

The idea is to keep the random flavor of the stunt system but have a floating pool that the characters can save and use as needed to allow for yet another tactical resource.

Because the good stunts cost more than 4+, it also provides yet another degree of character customization.  You can ignore the stunt system and go with the base 4 which nets you some basic stunting ability and go with other Knacks to boost your defense or offense or broaden your abilities.

Or you can go for a ‘flashy’ type character and buy up your stunt pool to get access to all kinds of stunts.

General Stunts -

• 1 – Shuffle Step – You shift one square after the attack as a free action.
• 2 – Forced Movement – You may push the target 1 square for each 2 points spent.
• 3 – Confusing – You so rattle your opponent with this attack that their Evasion is reduced by 2 until the start of their next turn.
• 3 – Spot Weakness – Target’s Damage Reduction is reduced by 2 for this attack.
• 4 – Fast Dart – You may move your base speed after the attack but are subject to OA’s as normal.
• 4 – Awe and Shock – You so impress everyone with your attack that you draw two initiative cards on your next turn and take the higher.
• 5 – Lucky Shot – If the attack roll missed you can spend 4 stunt points to add a +2 to the attack roll for the purposes of getting a hit.
• 6 – Cowed – The target of this stunt is so stunned and amazed by your actions that they may take no attack action on their next turn.
• 8 – Star Of The Show – Gain one Scene only Rewrite.  Rewrites gained in this way must be used during this scene or are lost when the scene is over.

Melee Stunts

• 2 – Knock Prone – You knock the target prone.
• 3 – Hand Hit – You target your opponent’s attack hand and they suffer a -2 on their next attack roll.
• 4 – Powerful Attack – Add 1 additional die of damage to the damage roll, subject to the standard dice maximum.
• 4 – Steel Wall – Gain +4 Evasion until the start of your next turn as you weave a barrier of steel around yourself.
• 4 – Hostage Exchange – Swap places with your target as long as they are the same size or smaller than you. This does not promote OA’s.
• 4 – Luring Strike – Shift back 1 square and lure your opponent into the square you just vacated.  This does not promote OA’s.
• 5 – Cleave – Make another attack against an adjacent target as a free action but subject to any existing multiple action penalties.  This attack cannot generate stunt points.
• 6 – Head Blow – The target is Dazed and Shaky after you resolve your attack even if you do not deal enough damage to daze them.
• 7 – TBD (not sure these are necessary or needed)
• 8 – TBD (not sure these are necessary or needed)

Range Stunts

• 2 – Kneecap – The target is Slowed on their next turn.
• 3 – Knock back – You knock the target back one square for each degree of success on the attack roll.
• 4 – Nads Shot – Add 1 additional die of damage to the damage roll, subject to the normal dice maximum.
• 4 – Pinning Shot – The target is rooted on their next turn.
• 4 – Concussive Shot – The target draws 3 initiative cards on the next round and uses the lowest.
• 4 – Ricochet Shot – Instead of the original target you can use any available surface and apply this attack roll to targets you can’t see but that you could have line of effect to from the surface.
• 5 – One shot, two kills – Make an attack roll another target within 5 squares of this target as a free action but subject to any existing action multiple action penalty.
• 6 – Head Shot – The target is Dazed and Shaky after you resolve your attack even if you do not deal enough damage to daze them.
• 7 – TBD (not sure these are necessary or needed)
• 8 – TBD (not sure these are necessary or needed)

Energy Stunts

• 2 – Tractor Beam – The target is pulled one square toward you or pushed one square away from you for each two stunt points you spend.
• 3 – Going Green – Reduce the energy point cost of this spell by 1 point.
• 4 – Distracting Aura – Gain +2 Evasion until the start of your next turn as energies crackle and spark around you.
• 4 – Energy Leech – Steal 1 energy point from any energy user within 10 squares.
• 4 – Focused Power – Add 1 additional die of damage to the damage roll, subject to the 4 dice maximum.
• 4 – Splash Damage – If this power was an instant damaging power, make a 2d6 damage roll against one target adjacent to the original target.
• 5 – Chain Power – You may use another power of equal or lower power cost as a free action but subject to any existing action multiple action penalty and you must have sufficient power to activate the power.  This power use does not generate stunt points.
• 6 – Rattle Their Brains – The target is Dazed and Shaky after you resolve your attack even if you do not deal enough damage to daze them.
• 7 – TBD (not sure these are necessary or needed)
• 8 – TBD (not sure these are necessary or needed)

Continue reading »]]> Find the first three parts of this series here - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

When last we followed our heroes they had just slid down a rope ladder into a chamber and dispatched a bunch of death cultists, 6 minions, 2 henchman and a lieutenant.  These equate to 3 of the 4 quality or toughness levels of LCA.  The only one missing is the Boss.  But as you can imagine we’ll find him further in, as the Boss Fight is a classic trope that one can’t really ignore very often.

NPC’s in LCA are very similar to 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, they have a type, a role, and a quality.   Type determines their base stats, their role further refines those stats and skills, and a quality finishes the customization.

But like most systems, the true difference in NPC’s is their flavor text and how they’re played.  A good gamemaster (Director) can listerally just grab the base template and spend a minute fiddling with the stats while telling the players what they’re looking at and with a some flavor text it works wonderfully.

So let’s join our game session in progress shall we?

Director: “You’ve gleaned what valuables you can from the bodies with a quick search, a handful of coins, mostly copper and silver but some golds.   Several amulets that give you a queasy feeling when you touch them and Shamus has advised you that they’d best be left here.  Perhaps you could pick them up on the way out and destroy them.

The door opening at the far end leaves you with one way to go, the other is filled with rubble.  Or you can go back up the ladder of course. ”
[Note: While in many many many situations it would make a LOT more sense for adventurers to turn around and go back, it would make for damn short gaming sessions...]

[Player Babble:  Obviusly they continue on...]

Director: “As mentioned the open passageway runs about 100′ to the east then turns north, the stone is typical dwarven crafting, stolid, depending, the kind of work that gives you a ride from the airport if you need it.  The flares of orange light continue their random flashing, they’re fairly quick anywhere from a second to a few seconds between them, some brighter than others.”

Vlad: “I’m out front by a few feet, doing the scan for traps things of course and when I reach where the passageway turns to the north I peek around it.”

Director: “Vlad give me either a Grace or Intellect check? Your option which stat you use.  A 19?  As you peek around the corner you see the passage way runs about 90′ north and see a gout of flame blast across it from one openng among several.  But what really catches your eye is the cultist at the far end with a huge crossbow aimed at you.  You jerk your head back as you hear two *twangs* and a second later two heavy wooden shafts smashes into splinters on the wall behind you.

Give me a perception check?  Good, you saw a lot in your peek.  The passage way is about 90′ long and opens up into a larger room or crossing passage.   At the far end are two cultists with crossbows.  There are six square openings about a 1′ across surrounded by a glowing brass collar with runes that flare in red and orange carved into them.  They’re spaced every 10′ or so starting about 15′ from the corner where you’re standing and alternate on the side of hte walls they’re on.   Intense flames blast out of them at random intervals in a blast 3. ”
[Note:  The cultists were using the delayed action mechanic.  Any character can on their turn delay their turn based on other events.  If

Vlad: "So any ideas?"

Ferril: "How fast can you run?"

Vlad: "Shaddup."

Shamus: "Do we think we can disable the holes somehow?  What about magically?  Or timing, I've been watching the flashes, no really, I may not have said it but I was, is there a pattern to them?"

Director: "As far as the timing goes, you believe if you study them for a reasonable period of time you might be able to pick up a pattern or enough of one that might give you an edge on any attempt to dodge them as you go through the passage.  As far as disabling them magically, anyone have Arcana?  Lerrius?"

Lerrius: "Yep, should I roll?"

Director: "Not necessary, this is secondary or triggered information, you just have to have the skill and be in the scene.  You're pretty sure that using the Dispel power on them would probably shut them down for a brief time.  You also know that the bronze ring is what's focusing the power and releasing it and destroying that would disable them permanently but you also know that magical items like this gain protection by the very essence of being magical and thus are pretty hard to destroy.

Possibly with your Arcana or Vlad's Burglary you could try and figure out a counter symbol you could inscribe or draw in the metal that disables them.   But again you'd be in the blast radius while studying them."
[Note: LCA encourages there not be a single solution to a problem.   That's not to say the possible solutions are easy or safe but there should be more than one.   In this case mechanically there are a few options.

Scream and Run:  They can try to study the blasts to get the timing down and then make an Acrobatics attempt to run down the passage, stopping and speeding up to miss the blasts.  The Director has determined that 30 seconds of study will net them a +3 bonus with a successful Perception roll, +6 with extra degrees of success.

Batter Them: They can try to just flat out damage them enough that they stop working, either from range or from melee.   The nozzles have a low evasion so they're easy to hit in melee but are a small target so they suffer the Vitals penalty on a Ranged shot.   They also have a moderate PDR, 10 in this case.  And it requires at least 2 degrees of Success to damage them, just like a character and they each have 2 boxes of PDT.

Dispel Them: A successful casting of the Dispell power will turn them off for 3 rounds per success.

Counterspell: A successful energy use skill roll made as the nozzles are flaring, which requires the Annoyance Mage knack, will disrupt that blast and allow them to move into the next blast radius.

Tinker Them: Through the use of Burglary or Arcana, Burglary at -3 penalty, by generating two degrees of success on the skill check (just like damaging it physically) the character can put a counter symbol on the device and cause it to malfunction.

To relate a true story, we were playing in a Star Trek based campaign using the Hero System once.   We got our ships destroyed by GM fiat also known as Plot Device or Choo Choo!  Railroading! and ended up on the surface of planet faced with a locked door.  The GM apparently had one way for us to bypass that door.  We spent half an hour of real time trying to figure it out, coming up with several plausible things but none of them the ONE thing this GM had in mind.  Finally we pretty much quit, two of us started drawing comics, another player said, "I sit down and get out my sack lunch."  the last player said, "You got any pudding pops in that lunch?" at which point the GM came out and said, "Okay you think if you wire your tricorder into your phaser and set the modulation to the frequency of the door you will cause it to open.  Duh."

And that's exactly what you want to NEVER do to your players.  So if you give them obstacles give them options.  And LISTEN to them.  If they come up with a cool idea that's not one of your stock ideas, go with it.  Engage them to think outside the box and outside your box.  You'll rarely regret it.]

Ferril: “Anyone got a small metal mirror?  I don’t fancy poking my head out there and watching the flames while someone tries to shoot it off.”

Vlad: “We could just leave you know.  We’re only getting 50 gold for this…”

Director: “Before the words stop echoing off the walls there’s a tremendous crack of thunder, audible even down here and a distant rumbling sound grows louder and the the passage way shakes, dust and small stones rattling down from the cracks and behind you part of the roof collapses leaving you no way back…”

Shamus: “WTF?!”

Director: “No not really.  Go ahead with your plans.”

Larrius: “You son of bee….”

Vlad: “Okay it’s not like we were really going to leave, a roleplaying game about sitting in a tavern drinking imaginary ale and ogling imaginary waitresses, doesn’t really sound like a lot of fun.  I propose that Ferril charge down there, kill the two thugs and turn off the flames.  They have to have a switch down there somewhere.”

Ferril: “Yeah, about that… uh no?  Out of idle curiosity and without any promises, what would it take for me to get to the end of the passageway safely?”

Director: “For someone else to run down there, kill the bad guys and turn off the flames?  Barring that, you’re going to need to make a Acrobatics or Athletics skill checks.  If you spend time trying to get the timing right I’ll give you a +3 bonus for each success on a Perception check.   If you get caught in a blast you get to make an Acrobatics check to dive out of it like any normal AOE attack but that will end your movement.  You figure you’re also going to take 2 crossbow shots on the way up the passage. ”

Larrius: “I smile and say maybe not.  I can drop a wall of ice at that end of the passage right in front of them.   Then I can wait until he gets to the end of the passage and destroy the wall and voila, he’s right there in their face.”

Ferril: “Oooh, I like that.”

Director: “Nicely played mage.  Here have a Rewrite.”

Vlad: “Why couldn’t he just drop a wall in front of each nozzle as well?”

Larrius: “Ummm, Director?”

Director: “You certainly could do that.  Definitely.  But the blasts will continue to fire and it’ll take you 7 rounds to block the end of the passage and the six nozzles since you can only create one wall in that time frame and you don’t have enough power to create a wall long enough in one go and in that time odds are 3  or 4 of the nozzles will have blasted the walls, quite likely destroying them.   But if you want to do that I’ll certainly allow it and it’ll remove 2 of the potential attacks that Ferril would take running down the corridor leaving just one.    Personally I might advise doing the end of the passage first or you’re going to give the cultists 6 rounds to break it down.”

Shamus: “Sounds like a plan.  Off you go Ferril!”

Ferril: “Hush you.  Could I use say the flat of my axe to watch the flames to detect the pattern? ”

Director: “Certainly but I’m going to give you a -2 on your Perception check because it’s not really that reflective of a surface.”

Ferril: “That’s fine.  Okay here’s our plan then?  I study the pattern and then Larrius starts dropping ice walls in front of each nozzle and then the end of the passage.  As soon as the end of the passage is blocked I charge out.   Dodge any blast coming my way and then you drop the end wall, don’t leave me hanging standing there mage, and then I kill the bad guys, get the girl and walk away the hero.”

Shamus: “In your dreams.”

Larrius: “Seems workable to me!”

Director: “Okay here we go…  Ferril, using your axe you study the patterns, you take your helm off to get rid of the tunnel vision effect?  When you think you have a good rythm you signal Larrius.  Larrius you have to lean around the corner, you’ll still get moderate cover but you’re going to take two crossbow attacks.   Both bolts missed you although splinters speckle your back side.  You immediately see a problem with your plan as the cultists reload and drop your first ice wall at the far end so you’re not under fire for the entire plan.  A thick translucent wall of ice fills the passage at the far end.   You immediately start blocking the nozzles.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are blocked but something goes horribly awry with your sixth casting and it misfires sending a surge of energy lashing through your body but you ride the pain out and it swiftly fades.    The entire time you’ve been hearing blows, the sound of ice breaking from the wall at the end of the passage.”
[Note: Ferril unfortunately rolled a Critical Failure (2 or more 1's) on his perception roll and decided to keep it even though the Director is going to give him a -3 penalty on his Acrobatics/Athletics rolls to avoid the flames.  He also removed his helm which leaves it without the 2 armour but also without the -2 penalty to perception.  He has high hopes on lady luck.   Larrius kicked off 6 walls, using 7 power points, two to block the 10' (2 square) wide passage at the end, and another 5 to block the first five blasters, one ice wall block in front of each one.  His 6th wall, he rolled a Critical Failure which creates a Backlash of energy.  If he had another point of power he could counter the backlash, you spend one point of power per point of power that is back lashing by making a successful energy use skill check but he's out at this point.  As a result he suffers a 1d6 per power point damage attack against himself.   Note: This isn't at odds with my philosophy of 'don't dick the caster' it simply adds a convenient way to punish critical failures for casters and makes the director's job easier.  Punishing critical failures on other skills are always harder to come up with.  The damage rolled on 1d6 was a 2.]

Ferril: “I go regardless.  I charge down the passageway screaming, axe held ready, ready to dodge out of the way as I need to.”

[Important Note: Dice Mechanics have changed at this point, yes this playtest was broken up over several sessions as I got the time to do it, such that each dice can only explode once so the max you can roll is a 12 on a d6 and a 16 on a d8.   I just want to get a feel for what that mechanic 'feels' like.    Then I'll switch to the one exploding dice per roll but it can explode multiple times and see what that feels like.  Mathmatically the impact on game balance is small enough that it's negligble.  ROughly 0.2% in favor of 2 Handed weapon wielders.]

Director: “The big warrior bolts up the passage as blocks of heavy steaming ice explode from the fires blasting out of the nozzles filling the corridor with steam momentarily before the magically created material vanishes!  If this was a movie we’d be spending big bucks on special effects.”
[Note:  Ferril takes off and easily avoids the blasts from the nozzles even with the -3 penalty.]

Director: “You reach the end of the passageway, how you’re not sure because you completely screwed up on the timing.   Lady luck was definitely riding your shoulder on that one.  Now we go to imitative and start it with you at the far end, the flame blasts are sending waves of pulsing heat behind you, your friends are all at the far end and through the vaguely translucent ice you can see two figures beating at it with spears, the ice is fractured and breaking….”

Combat Round 1
Ferril – QS   Vlad – QD   Larrius – JH   Shamus – 6H    Spearmen – KS

Spearmen:  ”They see you show up at the ice and wait, spears at the ready.”
[Note: They've readied actions and will attack as soon as they can.]

 Ferril: “I give the high sign and tell Larrius to drop the wall and then kill the one on the right.”

Director: “As the wall drops both spearman try to stab you even as you shift forward to stab them.  One is faster than you and stabs his spear into your thigh as you step forward.   It’s just a flesh wound though and you’re not affected other than perhaps a manly curse.”
[Note: Releasing a persistent power is a free action and can be done at any time.  Ferril steps forward and we make opposed Grace checks, one cultist rolled higher than Ferril and the other lower.  The higher one gets to act before Ferril can and hits him with enough damage to cause 2 DoS's.   Ferril spends a Rewrite to make a Shake It Off roll and rolls 2 DoS's thus avoiding any damage.  

Ferril continues his action and attacks easily hitting the cultist, both cultists are Henchman and can take one damage without falling down.  Larrius gets a good hit and rolls 4d6 damage for 19 total (16 + 3 strength).   This is 3 successes against the spearman and is exactly enough to kill him without fuss.

The second cultist acts now and scores a good hit, netting 4d6 on his damage roll and 4 DoS's on his damage roll.  He can't do anything but take it.  He's not at -1 on all his rolls and two more damage boxes will put him down.  Things aren't looking that great for Ferril.

Also note, this is again in homage of Binwin Bronzebottom's charge through the fire and taking on the death cultists by himself and not because it's really the smartest thing in the world to do.]

Vlad: “I put an arrow into one of the son of a bitches.  I’m using the heavy shaft and it slams into his chest and drives him back 4 squares.”
[Note: Vlad had a good roll and generated 8 stunt points and spent them on the Forced Movement stunt in the General table that lets him push 1 square for each 2 stunt points spent.  The target is also at Death's Door (-2 penalty) and Dazed.]

Larrius: “I reach down and force power from the netherworld into this one and channel it into ice lance against the other guy.”
[Note: Larrius is out of power since there hasn't been a recovery yet but the situation makes it a safe gamble to take advantage of his Blood Fueled knack. He can take one level of physical damage to regain 2 energy points.   With no enemy in range and standing by the healer it seems like a safe risk.  He hits with the attack and also dazes and damages the target.]

 Shamus: “Hmm what to do, not much.  I guess I burn some energy trying to heal Larrius.”
[Note: She fails the roll to activate the healing power of her goddess.]

Combat Round 2
Ferril – 3H   Vlad – 9H   Larrius – Joker   Shamus – KC    Spearmen – 6S

Larrius: “I try another lance against the same target.  Hit!  So the target is dazed so +3 damage and I have a joker so +2 damage?  Oh he’s toast.”

Director: “The cultist is slammed back a few feet from the impact and then drops sliding across the floor leaving a trail of blood.”

Shamus: “Nice shot.  I um try to heal him again. Sweet, one success he’s healed.  I’ll take the Fatigue level.”

Vlad: “I put another arrow in my guy since Ferril isn’t looking too good.   He spews his life’s blood in a spray as it sinks in chest into the right lung.”

Director: “Ferril as you shake off the effects of your hit you look around.  You’re in what’s probably an antechamber of a much larger chamber.  On each side of the door you entered through is a rusted metal lever protruding from the walls, the left one is up, the right one is down.   Metal squares dot the walls of the room you’re in covering brass plates.  The big room behind you is filled with piles of decaying wood, probably furniture, covered in masses of toadstools and mushrooms. A big pair of double bronze doors are set in the far wall and are closed, swaths in the dust and mud show they were opened and closed recently.   The room is lit by several torches stuck haphazardly in the debris.”

Ferril: “Hmmm would Ferril realize that if he pulls the wrong lever he’s going to fry himself?  Obviously pulling the wrong one is going to open these plates and release fire into this room and the other one will turn off the ones in the passage.”

Director: “I don’t know, would he?”

Ferril: “Yes, yes he would. I inspect them, is one more recently used than the other one? Hey I have a PS of Blacksmithing, would that give me a bonus or anything?”

Director: “Yes, in fact you can easily see that the lever on the left, the rust has been recently disturbed.  The one on the right looks like it hasn’t been touched in quite some time.”
[Note: The Director would normally have made this a Perception or Burglary or Technology skill check for tertiary knowledge but upscaled it to secondary or triggered knowledge based on the fact that the player selected Blacksmithing as a Professional Skill which would give them considerable knowledge of metals and rust so there's no roll necessary.   The trigger is set as having knowledge of metal.]

Ferril: “I move the lever the other way.”

Director: “Up and down the passage way leading back to your friends comes a grating clanking noise and one by one the nozzles stop producing flames.”

Lerrius: “We join Ferril, nice job.”

Shamus: “I heal him up when I get there of course.”

Vlad: “I check the bodies for loot.”

Director: “Shamus burns away the damage on Ferril with her healing flames.  Vlad you find nothing of significant value.  More of the amulets that Shamus doesn’t like, the spears are in good condition and have the Reach property allowing you to hit something one square away. ”

Interlude: They search the big room, discuss their options and in the end are going to open the double doors like that wasn’t a forgone conclusion.  Rather than the rather odd puzzle that Perkins put in for the Penny Arcade it’s a simple method of figuring out the lock or counter spelling the magic lock or battering it down.   Seriously… putting skulls in cauldrons as some kind of combination lock?

Director: “The doors swing open under the ministrations of Lerrius and Vlad revealing…”

[Note: I need to go back and listen to the PA podcast again to see what was behind this door.]

To be continued…

Continue reading »]]> You can read the first encounter’s results here and the second encounters results here, leaving this then to be the description of the third encounter of the current iteration of Lights Camera Action version 0.x.x.

Our Heroes are comprised of four folk built using the LCA system.  They’re all newb’s, i.e. level 1 but with LCA you tend to get ‘broader’ rather than ‘taller’ as you level up.  Another way to put it, more plainly, is that you gain more abilities rather than just bigger numbers.   Although your numbers can go up to some extent they tend to be primarily skills that go up and not your ability to do or take damage directly unlike a system like Dungeons and Dragons any edition where as you level up the numbers just get bigger and bigger, hit points, attacks, damage dice, damage output.    It’s a pet peeve I have with many gaming systems and virtually every MMOG.  The fights are the same, just the numbers keep getting bigger.

We have a stand up ‘tank’ build in the form of Ferril who uses a ginormous battle-axe, Vlad a more ‘rogue’ type who’s fast and sudden who dual wields, Larius who’s name I probably mispell 8 ways who’s a ‘frost mage’ and lastly Shamus a cleric who wields a big ass spiked maul.

They’re currently exploring a camp and old guard tower that had some dwarven scholars going through it doing whatever it is that dwarven scholars do (or were they…) and who were attacked by death cultists.  In E1 the group wiped out a band of minions, in E2 they encountered some more minions and a Henchman.    Which brings them to where we are now, 6 minions, 2 Henchman, 1 Lieutenant.

Note:  Some things that have been overlooked or just flat out mistaken are being corrected as necessary as we go along.  For instance Shamus has the Fleet of Foot knack which boosts her base speed and run by 2.  The modification to her speed wasn’t on her sheet so she’s been going slower than necessary.   Also Ferril has the Bloodthirsty flaw which means he has to make a Resolve check when he downs a creature or he attacks it again on his next round before he can switch targets.  Which now that I think about it is probably one of the harsher flaws.  I believe I’ll change it so that a check is only necessary if there are no other hostile creatures within 3 squares.

Director: “A fire burns with a cheerful crackling in spite of the carnage and you can see a faint light coming through the rough opening on the right side of the chamber where the bricks and tiles have been pulled up revealing a worked shaft going down.

A heavy rope ladder is spiked to the edge of the opening and dangles down into the shaft.  Looking down it you can see it drops about 30 feet down to a floor, the last 10 feet opening out into a chamber of unknown size.  The floor is covered in tilework, washed clean by the rain as it funnels down the opening to splash below, the noise enough to cover a brass band walking through here much less this quick little fight.”

Vlad: “I check out the hole and the rope ladder.  How easily do I think I could climb down without it being obvious?  How wiggly is the ladder going to be?  I assume it’s lit down below if there are people down there.  And what do I hear down there?”

Director: “You think if you’re very very good, and no one’s watching you might be able to sneak down.  Basically I’m going to give you a -5 penalty on your stealth roll versus a group perception roll of the people you can hear.  They’re talking back and forth and appear to be searching for something although they only refer to it as ‘it’ as in ‘Have you found any sign of it?’ and ‘It’s probably not out here anyway, that’s why the boss is looking further in.  It appears to be well lit actually, a yellow flickering glow of torches or fires and several of them.’”
[Note: Because the ladder isn't attached at the bottom anyone climbing down it is going to wiggle it like mad but because we are trying to make an action movie here where realism should play second fiddle to awesome we give him a chance to sneak down there.   If the players NEEDED to sneak down there then they'd automatically succeed.  But in this case knowing what's waiting for them is a perk not a requirement, we leave it up to random chance.

In LCA there is information that's Primary also known as Automatic which is automatically gained just for showing up to the party.  There's Secondary information also known as Triggered which merely requires that the player be present and have the right skill or ask the right question.  And there's Tertiary information also known as Chance which requires a successful skill check.

In this case knowing what's down the hole before everyone climbs down is tertiary to the success of the party, sure it would be nice to get a look and see what they might be facing so they can come up with some suitable tactics but what's waiting is certainly 'doable' by winging it and just everyone sliding down and opening their whup-ass cans on what's waiting.]

Shamus: “That doesn’t sound like a great idea, you’re good but are you good enough?”

Vlad: “I give her my silent look of amused disdain.  I check that everyone’s paying attention, tell them if they hear a lot of yelling to come join the party and then I try to slither down the ladder and stop just before the spot where it opens up and then I’m going to try to bend around so that I can take a look into the room.”

Director: “As you’re climbing down, trying to be stealthy, you hear a voice shout out, ‘Stay the hell up there, we’ll let you know when it’s time to come down.’!”
[Note: Vlad rolled a 18.  subtract the penalty of -5 and add his stealth of 1 and you get a 14.  The bad guys got a 31...  Much like the original session with the Penny Arcade people the Director wants the fight to take place in the cool layout down below so he gives the party an out by having the bad guys assume it's one of their own guys trying to come down.]

Vlad: “I make grumbling noises and mumbled curses and then climb back up.”

Insert Player babble here as they discuss what to do and then in typical kick in the door and start swinging they decide to slide down the rope and kick some ass.  They determine that the rope will probably hold them all.  Their plan is to slide down the rope ladder as quickly as possible, hopefully getting surprise on the people down below.   The Director has determined that they’ll need to make an Acrobatics or Athletics check at a +3, on a failure they’ll slam into the ground below and fall prone taking 1d6 damage, with a success they’ll land with cat like grace in one of the squares adjacent to the bottom of the ladder.  Whoever succeeds will have one action of Surprise which grants a +2 on attack rolls.

The players roll their dice, Vlad, Ferril, Larrius, Shamus…

Director: “Vlad you slip on the broken rubble under the rope ladder and land with a big ‘Oooof’ on your ass, Ferril you alight with a thud and rattle of chain mail and scan the room alertly, Larrius you drop down on little cat’s feet next to Ferril, Shamus, the last to come, rises from a crouch.”
[Note: Vlad rolled a 10 and has acrobatics of 0, that's less than 13 so he failed and elected to not use a Rewrite to try for a re-roll.  Ferril made it handily with an 18.  Larrius who doesn't have Acrobatics or Athletics training rolled a 19 which due to the lack of training suffers a -5 penalty but gets to add his Grace of 1 and the +3 bonus the Director added and ends up with a 18 which is a success.  Shamus has the same problem, no Acrobatics or Athletics, and has a Strength of 2 which offsets the -5 penalty and makes it a -3 which is offset by the +3 bonus so his natural roll of a 15 stays a 15 which is a success.   Not being trained in something can be rather harsh, intentionally so, and is designed to encourage players to diversify their skill sets as they go up in level.
With skill checks the Director is encouraged to have 2 usable skills when possible.  Sometimes it's easy like with this where Acrobatics and Athletics are a natural pairing for physical feats like this.  Other times it might be significantly more difficult to come up with 2 skills that make sense. ]

Vlad: “Seriously?  The only one TRAINED in acrobatics falls on his ass? Cripes.”

Director: “Seriously.  Okay we won’t bother with initiative since you’ve achieved surprise, you three have one action, if you make an attack your targets are all considered Off Balance and thus are at a -2 Evasion or alternately giving you a +2 on your attack rolls.

“You’ve entered a large oblong chamber, near the south end.  Water streams down the hole around you, splattering on the flooring which is covered in rubble where you’re standing and then flows south exiting through some grating in the flooring.   Decrepit looking scaffolding stands against the walls, with stacks of tiles on them.  The roof of the chamber is actually closer to 20′ above you in this area now that you’re down and looking up and as the chamber goes north it rises to 25 or even 30′.    Several iron chandeliers are hanging from the ceiling attached by rusted chains to the walls.

The walls are covered in mosaic tiles depicting what appears to be some kind of battle sequence at first glance but the work was obviously stopped halfway down the walls, almost in mid work as crates of tiles are scattered near the scaffolding and line the tops of them ready to be placed.   Large braziers of oil burn on stands around the room lighting it up letting you see everything clearly.   To the north are a pair of large doors standing open revealing a passage running at 90 degrees to the room to the east and west.  A large iron contraption stands near the center of the room covered in jagged spikes with gears and cogs on it.

Four cultists are scattered about the floor of the room, here, here and a couple over here, apparently tapping at the walls, looking for secret entrances perhaps?  Another four of them stand on the shaky scaffolding, two on this, one on this one and one on this one.  At the far end of the room just rising from this heavy wooden chair is a hulking figure, bigger even than the guy upstairs.  A dire looking maul makes a grating noise as it leaves deep scratch marks on the wood of the table as the hulk reaches out and drags it closer. “
[Note:  Yeah I included the animated bear trap in the encounter, again this is an homage to the PA session after all.  But it really makes NO sense why it's here, how it got here or why they'd have not destroyed it already since it apparently attacks anything in range.   I think Chris Perkin's just thought the mini was cool and included, which it is, it just doesn't make sense to find it here.]

Combat 1 – Round 1 (Surprise round)

Larrius: “You said there are cultists on top of the scaffolding?  And it’s old?  So weak and fragile?”

Director: “It’s shaking a bit as the cultists turn and stare at you and there are audible creaks from it.  it’s just trimmed logs bound together by cordage. ”

Vlad: “Heh, do it, knock them on their ass.”

Larrius: “I launch a ice lance at the scaffolding where I think it’ll do the most damage to the stability of the structure.  This one, the one with two cultists on it.”

Director: “A spear of hard ice launches out from the mage’s outstretched hand and smashes into the old brittle wood.  It shatters and the whole scaffolding shakes and hangs in mid air for an instant and then slowly at first but picking up speed, crashes down onto the chamber floor.   The two cultists on top try to leap to safety but can’t quite manage it and both lay among the wreckage, one with a large wooden splinter through his chest, coughing up a spray of blood, the other shaking his head in a daze.  Here’s a rewrite for thinking outside the box with an awesome move.”
[Note: Larrius rolled a 26 on his Energy skill roll which boosted his ice lance power to a 4d6 damage.  He rolled a 16 damage which generated 3 degrees of success on the scaffolding, the value the Director had already determined was necessary to cause it to fall.  There are several triggerable 'stunts' in this encounter room, the scaffolding can be knocked over generating a large AOE attack, the fire bowls can be spilled for another AOE attack that includes a Damage Over Time effect, the chandeliers can be lowered down, dropped or shot free to smash into someone or just to create difficult terrain.

The director decided this fall would generate a light damage potential which is 2d6 but the cultists could try to make an Acrobatics roll to avoid the damage, they both failed their rolls and one took enough damage to get knocked out of the combat and the other was only Dazed.]

Ferril: “Way to go mage!  I don’t like the looks of that metal thing, I’m going to avoid it and rush these two guys here aiming at this guy.”
[Note: A rush allows you to move and attack as a single action, the downside is you take a penalty on the attack, you're Off Balance (+2 to get hit) until the start of your next turn but you gain +2 damage and ranged attacks against you suffer a -2 penalty.]

Director: “Ferril launches himself across the chamber, the difficult terrain slowing him a bit but he manages to reach the cultists on the left and his great sword punches a hole through the cultists chest, a foot of gory steel emerging from his back.  Ferril yanks the weapon free with a nasty sucking noise, kicking the cultist off his blade.   The cultist, his heart cleft in twain goes crashing back and lays on the floor bleeding.”
[Note: The first attack roll was a miss but he re-rolled for a hit, a good one and then got excellent damage, enough to outright kill the minion.]

Shamus: “I invoke the power of Mitrol and summon her blessing on Vlad and myself to boost our skill at arms.”

Ferril: “D’oh, you could have said something before I ran off!”

Director: “Flames flicker to life around Shamus’ hands and then flit off to touch Vlad and Shamus.  You can feel the fire goddess’s hand guiding your own.”
[Note: Shamus has selected as one of her powers Buff.  When she casts buff it boosts one skill of her choosing.  She's electing to spend the extra points to buff in a burst 1 so that she can boost herself and vlad at the same time and is going to boost the Melee skill. She's not going to buff Larrius since he doesn't use Melee as a primary attack and she doesn't want to tie up energy sustaining a melee buff on a caster.   She spends 4 energy points to get the burst 1 and gets 1 degree of success on her activation roll which grants a +1 skill bonus.   She's also tying up 2 points of power from her power pool for as long as she sustains the buff power reducing her current usable power maximum from 8 to 6.   She's currently at 4 power points, 8 - 4 to activate the power.  She can only recover up to 6 at the moment.   Next turn she could if she wanted do a similar burst buff for 4 points and boost both her and Larrius Energy skill.]

Aftermath: Both Larrius and Shamus recover 1 energy point.

Combat 1 – Round 2

Ferril: AH     Vlad:  10S  Larrius:  JH Shamus:  6C Melee:  QH  Ranged: 5H Berserker:  4S

Ferril: “I do a spinning shift over to this guy and slash at him, he tries to parry but my sword ends up smashing up against his skull. Another one down!”
[Note:  All the penalties and bonuses from the Rush have gone away with the start of Ferril's turn.  He rolled an attack and hit dealing enough damage to take the minion out of the combat but not enough to kill him outright.]

Melee Minions: “This guy manages to stand up staggering,  he’s still a bit messed up from the fall.   Vlad a cultist comes screaming from around this box of tiles and attacks you while you’re down.  He brings the sword up and slashes down with it into your side, knocking the air out of you but the blade doesn’t get through your armour.  Ferrill this one here Rushes you cover the distance in leaps and bounds and brings a nasty looking mace around at you, ouch that’s going to sting, you can feel ribs creak as it smashes into your chest.”
[Note: The first cultist, the one that fell with the scaffolding failed his daze recovery roll so he only has one action this turn and is slowed to a speed of 2.  Since it takes two movement points to stand that's all he can do. Vlad is hit, the +2 for attacking prone targets was enough to the hit but the damage was just enough to Daze Vlad.  Ferrill takes a more serious blow and loses two boxes from his Physical Damage Tracker.  Not enough to penalize him but enough to cause concern.]

Larrius: “I shift away from the guy attacking Vlad and put an Ice Lance into his chest.”

Director: “Your lance punches into his shoulder and his damp clothing freezes around it.  His eyes roll up from the pain and he drops.   A thread of energy sparks up as the ice shatters and you pull it back to you.”
[Note:  Larrius got a hit, enough to incap the minion and also rolled 3 stunt points.  He chose the power stunt Going Green which reduces the cost of the just activated power by 1.]

Vlad: “I shake off the daze and stand, that’s all I can move right?  I unlimber my bow and sheathe my swords.”
[Note: He made his Daze Recovery roll but just barely so while he can take multiple actions he's still Slowed and thus standing is the only movement he can take.  He also suffers a -3 penalty on any skill rolls made on this turn. Vlad has Quickdraw which allows him to sheathe the swords and draw the bow as one action. He could sheathe or draw one weapon as a free action but wanted to get ready.]

Shamus: “I shift over to Larrius and then call Mitrol’s Blessing down upon our skill with energy.”
[Note: She's buffing Energy skill in a burst 1 which burns another 4 energy points and ties up 2 more in persistent powers.  This leaves her with 1 energy point and 4 tied up supporting buffs.   The activation is successful and they both gain +1.]

Director: “The wisdom of Mitrol touches your minds and you feel more skilled instantly with the ways to weave the energies around you.”

Ranged: “Out of the crates to the north end of the chamber two figures step out, dressed in metal studded leather.   They each are armed with a long pole like weapon with metal and crystal bits on it.  They hold them upright and the crystals flash and a harsh red white beams of energy fly out of them at you!”

Ferril: “I’m going to try and Dodge it!”

Director: “Sorry you can’t do that when you’re dazed.  Oof, you’re going to take a big hit, 3 degrees from this one.”
[Note:  A character can try to Dodge an incoming attack at any time but only once per turn.  They add the higher of their Grace or Intellect as a penalty to the attack roll about to be made against them.  But you can't do that when you're Dazed.  There is also a Knack called Dodgy Bastard! that lets you apply a -5 penalty to an attack roll AFTER it's made but before damage is rolled which leaves you Off Balance.]

Ferril: “I shake it off!”

Director: “You move your head out of the way at the last instant and are just grazed by the beam of energy rather than it burning a hole through your noggin.  Your hair puffs into smoke and your skin blisters and bubbles.”
[Note: Ferril rolled a Fortitude check against the incoming damage and managed one success reducing the damage by 1.  He decided to risk another roll spending his last rewrite and managed to get a 19 which reduced it by 2, leaving just enough to daze him.]

Director: “Unfortunately you’re still the best target and the other cultist’s beam burns out at you. It hits and wraps around your chest and you’re yanked toward the cultist by 3 squares.  You stumble as the energy flares and fades away but not before leaving a burning wound around your chest.  Your eyes widen a bit as the large mass of metal and spiky bits two squares away starts moving in a loud squealing grinding sound of metal on metal.”
[Note: The cultist hit and got two DoS on his damage roll which re-re-dazes Ferrill and knocks him down to the third physical damage box causing a -1 penalty.   The cultist also generated 6 stunt points and used the Power Stunt of Tractor Beam and used those to pull Ferril 3 squares forward which puts him inside the activation range of the animated construct.]

Ferril: “Well ain’t that a bitch?”

Berserker: “The giant brute roars and with a casual blow smashes the table next to it and then charges forward at the group in a lumbering run.  You can see it’s careful to move around the giant metal thing staying 20′ away from it, even though it has to cross through this difficult terrain to do so.”

Aftermath – Shamus and Larrius recover 1 energy point leaving them at 2 and 8 respectively.   Ferril is dazed and down to box 3 on the physical damage tracker causing him a -1 penalty on all rolls and movement.

Combat 1 – Round 3
Ferril: 6H     Vlad:  3H  Larrius:  6D Shamus:  8D Melee:  4C  Ranged: JS Berserker:  AS  Construct: 2S

Director: “The mass of rusted metal whirls and clicks, rust showers down from it but it somehow doesn’t seem at all diminished by it.  It unfolds forming into a series of spikes and cogs that look pretty… awful from up close.”

Berserker: “The brute continues his roaring charge and Rushes Vlad.  That massive club comes whistling back and slams into your chest…

Vlad: “I use my Wired ability!  I evade that shit!  I drop down in a crouch and let it go over my head and then stand back up.”
[Note: Vlad chose Grace as his stat focus which grants him the Wired ability.  Once per encounter before damage is rolled from an attack he can cause the attack to miss.]

Berserker: “A howl splits the chamber as his attack misses!”

Ranged: “The two robed cultists with the staves move closer and unleash another beam, one going at Ferril, another at Larrius.  Ferril the beam burns swaths of your armour piercing beneath it to destroy your skin.  You drop to the ground unconscious.  Larrius you’re struck by the other beam, it instantly turns your moon silk robes red hot and your flesh smoulders under it.
[Note: Ferril is hit for 3 DoS which crosses off the last box on his PDT and since there's left over damage he's knocked unconscious and dying.   Larrious is hit for 2 DoS which dazes him and fills in the first box on his damage tracker.]

Shamus: “Well isn’t this a fine how do you do.  Crap crap crap.  Ferril is in range for a tossed healing but that’ll burn both my energy points.  But I can’t reach him and still use the power if I don’t burn the power.  I guess I’m burning the power eh?  By Mitrol’s healing light be healed!  Wait a minute, if I don’t move then he’s at long range right so it’s a -2?  Okay but if I run which puts me in normal range I end up with a -2 penalty so it’s a wash.  I guess I’ll stay here. I’ll take the onus of paying for the life force as well.”
[Note: Shamus has the Healing power.  Normally it's a touch spell but by spending an extra point of energy it gains the Thrown range 5/15.   Because Ferril is 13 squares away, shamus would have to use her Run speed to get in normal range, she has a run of 10.  Her base speed is 8 which leaves her still in long range.  Because they're both a -2 penalty, long range versus Running and Running makes her easier to get hit and there are two melee guys who could reach her on their turn she's opting for the Healer's Way of hanging back out of danger.  Because healing causes Fatigue when it's used, either the target or the energy user can take the level of fatigue, in this case Shamus is going to pay it and she fills in the first box on her Fatigue tracker.]

Director: “Fire and light burns out from Shamus and engulfs Ferril’s body and the worst of the burns fade and turn into pink healthy skin.  He stirs a bit and looks around.”
[Note: Shamus rolled a 23 on her activation roll. Plus one for the Energy skill buff she has running.  That reduces to a 22 from the range penalty.  The base TN is 13 and 13 from 22 is 9 which equals 2 successes.  Ferril erases the right most 2 boxes of his PDT.
In the interests of following the motto, 'Don't screw the players' and 'not playing is not fun' he'll get to act on his next turn, he just starts it Dazed.]

Ferril: “I’m alive!  I stand up and stumble away from this metal monstrosity and straight at this mook over here and smash his bastard face in.”
[Note: Ferril made his Daze Recovery check so he has a full set of actions but suffers the -3 penalty of the daze hangover.   He misses though.  Since his turn is over he's no longer dazed, an important distinction given the damage boost to hitting a dazed character.]

Lerrius: “I cover the brute in shackles of hard ice!”
[Note: Lerrius uses his Crowd Control power.   He scores big time getting a 32 on his activation roll.  With the new changes this results in the target being Immoblized which means the target cannot use any skills based on Grace or Strength, cannot move from its square and suffers a -5 to its Evasion and any other skill rolls.]

Director: “The air is clouded for moments as a thick blinding beam of pure cold hits the berserker and in those same moments he’s frozen solidly in place, covered with ripples and bands of black ice.  Roars of frustration can be heard, muffled through the thick ice.”

Melee: “The death cultist swings his sword at you Ferril but you parry the blow away with a ringing clank and shower of sparks, the cultist buried under the tangle of the scaffolding finally extricates himself and rushes you Shamus after seeing you use healing powers.  He pulls up short next to you and you lean back as his mace swings past your face, missing.

Vlad: “This brute, he’s wearing a helm?”

Director: “No, just some thick iron banded leather on his body.”

Vlad: “I shift back and put an arrow into his left eye.”
[Note: Vlad is taking advantage of the target's -5 evasion penalty due to being immoblized to take a Vitals shot which suffers a -5 penalty but gains a bonus die of damage if it hits.  He's using this to hit the less defended head shot.  He rolls an 8 with a Ranged skill of 3 and the -5 and +5 canceling out he got a 11.  He spends a Rewrite to roll again.  And gets a much more enjoyable 21.  He rolls 4d6 damage and gets 21 points.   21 - 6 is 15 so 4 Degrees of Success, a massive hit.   The Berserker as Lieutenant has 2 Rewrites and the full 4 boxes on on his damage trackers.   He tries to Shake It Off and fails to get even 1 success.  He spends his second and last Rewrite and gets 1 success reducing the incoming DoS's to 3.  This Dazes him and causes him to fill in two boxes on his PDT.]

Director: “The berserker roars in pain and fury, loud enough that bits of ice crack off his bonds.  The arrow doesn’t quite go in his eye but glances off the thick eye socket bone and careens upwards ripping a long gash through the skin of his head.”

Construct: “The construct clanks and groans and screeches then un-quietly folds in on itself again waiting for the next person to get within range.”

Aftermath: Ferril was down but is back up, the berserker is immobilized, Shamus recovers 1 energy point for a total of 1, Larrius recovers 1 and is still maxed out.

Combat 1 – Round 4
Ferril: 4D     Vlad:  9C  Larrius: 2S Shamus:  10S Melee:  9S  Ranged: JC Berserker:  5D  Construct: 6S

Ranged: “One of the robed cultists starts chanting words of power and advances careful to skirt the construct.  The ice engulfing the berserker shivers and then shatters into mist fading away.  The berserker roars in triumph as he’s freed.  The other shakes his staff, releasing another beam of energy at Ferril which hits.  The beam yanks Ferril back toward the construct again, and leaving massive burns across his body.”
[Note: The one cultist used his Dispel power to break the Crowd Control effect from the berserker.  The other one nailed Ferril again for big damage and got 4 Stunt points, dazing him, pulling him back toward the construct and causing him to fill in his last two damage boxes, the same two he just erased.]

Shamus: “Crappity crap crap.  To get close enough to heal him this bastard is going to get a free shot on me isn’t he.  Okay, I’m going to bash this guy and then hopefully kill him and then move up to Ferril.”

Director: “Your spiked maul swings out and rips his face off and his brains pour out the the sudden opening in his skull.  The body falls back twitching.”
[Note: Shamus rolled a hit but then rolled crap damage.  Spending a Rewrite she ended up with 4 DoS on the second damage roll, a much better option.]

Melee: “The last melee cultist steps up and swings at Shamus but misses, flinching at the sight of your gore covered maul.”

Vlad: “I put another arrow into the brute. Sweet I hit and got 5 stunt points.  There’s no one close enough to take One Shot – Two Kills, I’m going to take Pinning Shot and nail this big bastard to the floor, he’s Rooted on his next turn.”

Construct: “The mass of metal unfolds again revealing metal toothed jaws that bite out at Ferril.  The clanking rusted metal snaps shut with a thunderous boom but one foot to the right of Ferril.   It’s motions are spastic and bit jerky and you don’t think it’s going to be too accurate but from the sound of it, if it hits you, you’re going to be wishing you were anywhere else but where you are at the time.”

Berserker: “Spends his turn ripping his foot free from the arrow holding it to the floor, as blood sprays out his eyes turn red and fury lights his face as he does the t-rex style bellowing roar, spit flying and neck veins bulging.  Vlad you and Larrius can’t help but feel a bit of fear and consider finding another target.”
[Note: The berserker used his Intimidation skill and has the Challenging Roar knack which makes the intimdation a Blast 3,  against them as his action since he couldn't attack and won the opposed check, Intimidation versus Resolve against both and Vlad and Larrius now suffer a -2 penalty to attack the berserker until the end of his next turn.]

Ferril: “I rip out the healing potion in my belt pouch and down it.”
[Note: Ferril failed his daze recovery check so he's limited to a single action and slowed and suffers a -3 penalty on this turn.   He chooses to spend his action drinking a healing potion which clears on box on the physical damage tracker but causes one box on the fatigue damage tracker.]

Larrius: “I move away from the big guy and then put a lance in this guy with the staff for screwing up my spell, I’m also going to try and Slow him with it.”
[Note: Larrius is spending an extra energy point to get the Slow effect he has on his ice lance power.  He gets a solid hit for 13 damage which dazes and applies one damage box to the ranged cultist and he's slowed.  This costs Larrius 2 points of energy.]

Combat 1 – Round 4
Ferril: 6D     Vlad:  5S  Larrius: QS Shamus:  2H Melee: 5H  Ranged: 8D Berserker:  4H  Construct: 10C

Lerrius: “Me again?  I put another lance in that guy while he’s dazed.  Nailed him!”

Director: “You carve another chunk out of his hide but at the last instant he stumbles to the side a bit and your icy missile just grazes him.”
[Note:  This hit would have killed the ranged cultist so being a Henchman with 1 rewrite, he rolled a Shake It Off roll and dropped the damage down by one success to a single success which is just a daze.]

Construct: “The metal mass of snapping pointy bits seems almost perturbed that it missed and lashes out at Ferril again.  Ferril drops down in a crouch and with a mighty clang the metal teeth close on the air over his head.”

Ranged: “The dazed cultist stumbles forward two squares, putting it into range of the construct without realizing it.   The other cultist fires a bolt of energy from his staff at Lerrius and misjudges the range and the energy bolt lands short sending up a spray of debris from the floor.”
[Note: The first cultist rolled a critical failure on his Daze Recovery roll so the Director had him stumble foward his two squares (slowed from the daze) putting him in range of the metal construct as the effect of the critical failure.  The other guy missed due to the -2 penalty from the long range.]

Ferril: “I move the hell away from snapper!  Straight at this guy here, again.  If that gd caster pulls me back again…  Booyah!  I cut the son of a… in half with my sword and kick the body as it drops on top of the other corpse to start a pile of my kills!”
[Note: Critical hit and spectacular damage on top of that.]

Director: “The body practically explodes as you bisect it from the right shoulder down through the left hip, a spray of blood, guts and assorted icky bits flies out in a spray covering in blood worse than a Dragon Age character.  Well done!  Here’s a rewrite for the most powerful blow of the evening.”
[Note: Ferril has no rewrites so by unwritten rule it's easier for him to get one for being awesome.  And it was a utterly massive hit dealing 38 damage or 7 degrees of success.]

Vlad: “I’m not liking this, standing here by myself.  I drop the bow and pull my swords then step up to the big guy and start slicing.  My small blades are probably not the best option against him I bet.  Ferrill!  I need you back here!”
[Note:  Vlad knows the berserker has a high PDR which is the area where the 2-handed weapon wielders have the edge, while his own dual wielding one handed weapons are better against targets that are harder to hit.  It's not a huge discrepancy, more a light 'favoring' of what style of damage dealer works better against what style of target.]

Director: “Your bow is still falling as you step foward a couple of feet and with rapid slashes you attack.  Both blows hit, your left sword though gets trapped in the metal of his armour and is pulled from your hand.  The other one hits him pretty hard finding a gap in the armour to sink several inches deep into the right side of his chest!  He’s bleeding pretty good and dazed.]
[Note: Vlad rolled two hits in spite of being intimidated by the berserker giving him a -2 on his attack rolls, but the damage on his primary weapon rolled 3 1's.  The Director isn't going to let that kind of roll go unnoticed and deemed it a critical failure which isn't default for damage rolls but it's all about the Awesome and losing a weapon by getting it stuck in the target makes for a good memory.  Even if eventually ends up killing Vlad.]

Melee: “The various dead and dying melee death cultists keep on being dead and dying, there are no more capable of action.”

Berserker: “He doesn’t seem to notice the blood or the sword stuck in him.  But it’s having an effect, even though he seemed to shake off his daze from your blow without any issue his giant weapon still misses you by quite a bit.”

Shamus: “I shift over and touch Ferril letting some of Mitrol’s healing flames flow over his wounds.  I’m going to channel some extra power to cover the fatigue cost.”

Director: “The flames flow over his body leaving his wounds mostly healed, he feels much better!”
[Note: Healing costs 1 energy and deals 1 fatigue level.  But by expending an additional point of energy the fatigue cost can be done away with which is what Shamus did.  She also rolled 2 degrees of success on her healing roll which heals two boxes of damage from Ferrill leaving him merely 'Bruised'.]

Aftermath: The melee cultists have been dropped, one’s in range of the metal construct and with any luck the construct will go first.  The berserker is ‘battered’ which has nothing to do with chicken fried and Vlad’s lost a weapon but no fear he has extras.   Shamus as is becoming the norm has 1 energy point, Larrius is doing much better since he rarely invokes the effect on his powers or expands them into an AOE.

Combat 1 – Round 6
Ferril: 4S     Vlad:  6H  Larrius: AH Shamus:  JS  Ranged: 7C Berserker:  JD  Construct: 7H

[Note: The construct did end up, just barely faster than the ranged guy.  Sweet sweet revenge as this is the one that's been yoinking Ferril into it's area of effect.]

Lerrius: “I see Vlad’s in trouble, I drop ice chains on the berserker. Crap.  Okay I try that again.  Much better!  He’s locked up tighter than alabama tick!”
[Note:  Lerrius rolled a 10 on his first activation, spent a Rewrite and rolled a 25...  3 Degrees of Success results in another full monty hit of the crowd control power.  The berserker is locked down, immobilized.]

Shamus: “I move up to this caster guy in the back, let’s see him use a ranged attack with me in his face.  Darnit.  One more. Dang it!”
[Note: She moved up to the ranged cultist and then missed her melee roll by 1.  Spent a Rewrite and missed it by 2.  oh well.]

Berserker: “He strains mightily against his icy bonds but can’t break free!”
[Note: Berserker rolls a 6, adds his Strength of 4 for a 10, minus 2 because he's fully immobilized for a 8.  He debates spending his last Rewrite to re-roll but wants to save it for a Shake It Off roll.]

Construct: “The construct spins, lashing out at the dazed cultist in range but the rusty, non-maintained parts just don’t apparently have it in them to hit anything.  The jaws close shut with a loud clang short of the man.”

Ranged: “The dazed cultist stumbles back out of range of the construct.  The other one shifts back and levels his staff at Shamus and gets a hit on her.  Her armour absorbs most of the energy or the beams getting weaker and as smoke and sparks fly up from her chest she’s staggered.”

Vlad: “I try to kill this guy again.  I pull one of my daggers out to replace the lost blade and move around behind him and stab between the ice links.   Damnit, this guy is heavily armoured!”
[Note: Vlad gets two good hits, but rolls a 5 damage and a 10 damage.  The 5 doesn't do anything and the 10 just dazes the target.]

Ferrill: “I rush the brute.  Oh yeah! I bring my sword down from the heavens with a crack of doom on his ass!  Well his head anyway!  The skull crunches and flattens and we’ll be calling him Stewie from now on.  I look at Vlad, sheesh ya big crybaby, what’s so hard about that?!”
[Note:  Ferril makes his Resolve roll , necessary to allow him to shift targets due to his Bloodthirsty Flaw. Ferrill got a hit, barely but got three exploding dice on his damage roll for a total of 28 damage.  That's 4 degrees of success.  The berserker spent his last Rewrite on a Shake It Off but rolled an 8.   He died a messy horrible death.]

Aftermath: We’re down to two ranged cultists, and the group is beat up a bit but still looking fairly healthy.

Combat 1 – Round 7
Ferril: 7S     Vlad:  KS  Larrius: 9H Shamus:  10H Ranged: QC   Construct: 3C

Vlad: “Well shit, I drop the swords and pick up the bow, is that action? Not with quickdraw?  Cool.  I then put an arrow into…. they’re both in normal range, I’ll nail the far one.  Damn, I missed.”

Ranged Cultist: “This one unleashes another blast at you Shamus.   Ouch that’s going to hurt, 3 degrees of success.  He also got 4 stunt points that he’s going to spend on Fast Dart and move his base speed  straight for these double doors.  The other one is going to blast Larrius.  Big hit!  That’s three degrees of success on you as well.”
[Note:  Shamus takes the damage since it just drops her two boxes on the PDR and dazes her, she's not into negatives yet.  Larrius makes a Shake It Off roll and reduces the damage by 1 but he's at the 'hurt' spot on the damage tracker which causes a -1 penalty.]

Shamus: “It’s going to take more than that put me down, you bastard!  I move after him, I have a base speed of 7 now from the damage right?  That’s still enough.  Oh yes!  Big hitter!  OMG 30 damage!   His spine explodes as I smash my maul directly and there’s a little bulge in his stomach it pushes in so far!”
[Note: Again note that these rolls are genuine, no fudging.  Shamus got 2 degrees of success on her Daze recovery which lets her act normally.  It was a single move to catch up to the cultist and then got a max damage dice attack roll and then rolled 28 damage on 4d6 and added +2 for her strength.  The cultist had a rewrite and did reduce the damage by 1 degree but as a Henchman he only has a single box on his PDT leaving him well past the end of the tracker.]

Lerrius: “I don’t want this guy running, I ice shackle him.  Nailed it!  He’s only rooted though the shackles only wrap around his legs.”
[Note: Lerrius only got 2 degrees of success on his activation roll which Roots the target leaving him free to act although at a -2 penalty but not move.]

Ferril: “I double move to get next to the shackled cultist.  Carefully avoiding getting in range of the construct!”
[Note: Ferril makes his Resolve roll , necessary to allow him to shift targets due to his Bloodthirsty Flaw. ]

Construct: “Folds back in on itself since there’s no one in range.”

Combat 1 – Round 8
Ferril: QH    Vlad:  4C  Larrius: AC  Shamus:  3C  Ranged: 8C  Construct: 7D

Lerrius: “I don’t really care to talk to this guy.  I move up to here by this crate and then lance him.”

Director: “Your lance grazes his skull and richochets off just missing Ferril, the cultist sways dazedly.”

Ferril: “Swing batter batter swing!  Oh it’s outta the park!  The head goes sailing!  The crowd goes wild!”
[Note: Ferril clipped the cultist for 28 damage.  He's already used his Rewrite so he can only take it.  Which he can't.]

Director: “The last body drops down.  There are a couple of cultists bleeding out, one expires with a little sigh as you walk around looking them over, the last looks like he’s going to make it.”

Vlad: “No, actually he’s not, I sink my sword into his throat and twist it.  If anyone else looks like he’s going to ‘make it’ I make sure they don’t.”

Shamus: “I use the time to heal everyone.”
[Note: In a setting without magical healing it's quite possible that damage can last for an extended time, having a character with a good First Aid skill is critical to the well being of a group in such a setting.]

Director: “The floor is covered in blood, fragments of ice, and various bits of rubble and gore.  There’s been no sign that there’s anyone further in, although Vlad you know the cultists in this area were talking about another group being further in.

There doesn’t appear to be that much of value in this room, the cultists weapons aren’t bad but not worth carrying now, perhaps on the way out.   Lerrius give me an Arcana check?  You know these magic staves are really nothing more than a crutch for half assed casters, they allow them to channel their energies and without them they have to spend double the energy to cast them.   They’ll do you all no good and there’s an bit of a slimy psychic aura about them that you really don’t like.”

Lerrius: “Ferril if you’ll do the honors?  Destroy them please.”

Director: “Ferril is easily able to smash the staves and the red glow in the crystals flares as they break lighting the room in a evil looking light.   Shamus, Vlad you check out the exit in the north end of the room and see it’s a cross running passage.  To the west it’s filled with rubble after a short distance.  It runs to the right for many feet and turns north again and there’s a flaring yellow orange light down that way coming from around the corner.  It appears to be random in the timing but every few seconds it swells rapidly and then fades away.

What do you do…”

… to be continued.

Continue reading »]]> Some minor additions that have come up from play testing and general reverie -

Added the ability to created an area that generates an alarm of some kind when an object enters the area to Environmental Effects.  By rights it should probably be a function of the Warding power I suppose but I want the EE power to be more desirable. EE as it stands now, allows the energy user to change the lighting or visibility or temperature of an area.  In a fantasy setting the most common flavor text would be that the energy user summons minor elementals to achieve the effect and such a flavor text works well to create a minor elemental that sits and watches the area for danger.

I’m also vaccilating on the base target number.  At one time I was considering coming up with just having a single roll which would in effect be the damage value which would range from zero damage (i.e. a miss) to maximum damage (i.e. a critical) but I couldn’t figure out a way to do it well enough using any of the standard RPG dice.   The idea is that you ‘hit’ every round but the true measure of your effectiveness is based on how much damage you were able to generate.

Hey it’s no worse than making one attack roll for every 6 seconds or whatever arbitrary unit of time the typical round is set to.  If you’ve ever been in a fight you know you make a butt load more attacks than one a every six seconds.

It’s simply a way to abstract out combat and movement and space the possible damage out over time so that going first isn’t an “I Win!” button.

Anyway, as usual I digress.  Back to the Target Numbers.  Right now I’ve settled, again, on 13 as the base TN to indicate a success.  That yields an average success rate on 3d8 of around 70% for a character with the bare minimum training (skill = 0).   Given that it’s possible to ‘miss’ due to a crappy damage roll I believe I need to aim higher than the standard 60-70% that some pundits have put out as the best percentage.    A starting character can have as high as a +4 in a skill but it’s limited to a single skill.   +4 puts the success rate in the high 80/low 90 percentiles.  I had a table with all the math and results but I’ve lost track of it.

Another reason I eventually stopped in my quest for a ‘one roll combat system’ is that having attack rolls and damage rolls allows for two ways to customize a character rather than one.  So one character might hit less often but when he does he does more damage on average or vice versa.  It allows for ‘masterwork’ weapons that are so well made that they grant a +1 attack bonus while a weapon enchanted with Fire grants a +1 damage bonus.   And the system is already simple enough that differentiation is a concern, slight though it is.

The concept of Flavor Text is going to be a big thing with LCA (Lights Camera Action!) as it’ll be the flavor text that really helps differentiate characters to some extent.   It’s concept that makes a character who wields two hand crossbows different from a character that wields two six shooters from a character that wields two dart flingers.   Same mechanics, different flavor.

In a way it’s similar to Hero Systems where you turn the same Ranged Killing Attack  into everything from a laser pistol to a eye beam to a cobra launcher etc.

See how the digression creeps back in?

Also modified the Drain Energy to Energy Drain with some minor changes and added a Life Drain.  Life Drain is a combination of Direct Damage and Healing.  It can only hit one target with 2d6 while Direct Damage hits one target with 3d6 or two targets with 2d6 damage.   But it has the benefit of when it deals damage on a high damage it’ll transfer half the damage done as life energy back to the energy user as healing.  By spending an additional energy point at that time (remember the motto, “Don’t screw the players”) the energy user can transfer that healing to an ally within range.   So for 2 energy points as one action the energy user deals a little less damage and has a chance to get healing.   As opposed spending 2 energy points as two actions on two turns to deal higher damage and guaranteed healing.

It ‘seems’ to me that it’s reasonable.  If I was going to make a necro character I’d take it without feeling too screwed.

Continue reading »]]> Running Example of Lights Action Camera in a Fantasy Setting:

This series of encounters is a homage to the Second Penny Arcade Dungeons and Dragons Podcast featuring Jerry Holkins “Omin Dran”, Mike Krahulik “Jim Darkmagic”, Scott Kurtz “Binwin Bronzebottom”, Chris Perkins and introducing Wil Wheaton as “Aeofel Elhromanë”.

Note: All dice rolls are ‘genuine’, there’s no fudging involved and the dice app I wrote for this uses real random numbers based on solar noise from random.org]

Director: “You’re sitting in the Drunken Mermaid, one of the two taverns in the small town of Seacrest, a moderate sized trading and fishing community located on the southern shores.  Your reasons for passing through the town are your own but as fate would have it you’re here now, enjoying a passable ale and a hard bread trencher filled with meats of dubious origin, onions and carrots with a thick gravy.  Perhaps enjoying is putting it too strongly but like so much else here it’s passable.

The steady rains outside drone on the boards of the roof and you’ve had to move your chair once or twice to avoid the drips.

The front door opens, bringing with it a sweeping blast of air so wet it might as well be water along with the large form of Saer Koale, one of the town’s council and a bedraggled looking dwarf, his arm bound in a sling and a fresh slash that runs along his chin back into his thick brown hair.”

Koale is a big man, with a martial air and posture and carries a heavy dagger that’s almost a short sword but you’ve never seen him otherwise armed.  He’s old for a human, probably 50+ but still healthy.  He stares around the tavern, mostly filled others like yourself, those passing through the town. The other tavern is mostly for the locals as you found out the first time you tried to get something to drink.

His voice is still firm and commanding, “Okay you lot, this here is Snaggli Ambershard.  He’s a scholar or some such and part of a group that’s poking their noses into the old watch tower to the north.  He says they were attacked by bandits.”

“Undead they wuz!” sputters the dwarf.

Koale continues on, ignoring the dwarf.  “The town doesn’t have the forces or to be completely frank the inclination to travel that far and most likely bury some rotting corpses that were poking their noses where they shouldn’t.  But in the interests of good relations and against my better judgement I’ve been asked to put the query forth to you lot.  Anyone that wishes to help this dwarf with his troubles will garner a 50 gold payment if you’ll accompany the dwarf and check out his story.”

There are several snorts, boos and catcalls go up around the room but given your current financial state, you have perhaps a few silver and assorted coppers left to your name, the thought of 50 gold is intriguing.

Koale waits for the noise to die down and scans the room, “Any of you lot interested, come with us.”

You down your tankard and shove the remainder of your dinner in a pouch and rise to your feet.  Around the room you see three other figures standing as well.

Koale nods and bids you to follow him and he leads you out into the dark rain swept streets and to the main hall.

He outlines the deal, you lead Snaggli to their camp, scope out the area, check out the dwarf’s story and if there are any bandits deal with them.  Return with the dwarf and you get 50 gold.  Pretty simple.

Addressing the dwarf he says, “Saer Ambershard if you could excuse us?  I’ll send them round to your room in a moment.”

The dwarf leaves grumbling and muttering about undead under his breath.

Koale waits until he’s gone, following to watch him out of the building before closing the door to the room.

“If the dwarf doesn’t make it back, it’s still worth 50 gold to each of you.” he says.

The four of you glance at each other and there’s some arching eyebrows. In your group is a big man carrying a large battle-axe and dressed in chain who goes by the name of Ferril.  A slight man of average height stands dressed in dark grey leather which has articulated links of blackened iron sewn into it and twin slender curved swords sheathed on his back carrying a oiled leather bow cover and quiver of arrows who calls himself Vlad.   The third is an older man dressed in shimmering robes of mottled blue and black and carries a iron shod staff and is known as Larrius.  The last is a short stocky woman called Shamus dressed in splinted mail, a heavy spiked maul hanging lightly in one callused hand. A faintly glowing hammer rests between her breasts, the sigil of those that follow Mitrol.

Shamus: “Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”

Player: I want to see if he’s wanting us to kill the dwarf.  I make an Empathy check and get a 14 total.

Director: No roll is necessary, this is what’s called a Secondary Information or Secondary Clue.  Secondary Info is what I call Triggered information and you automatically get it when you have your character do something or you perceive something and have the right skill.  It could be saying you search an item or you ask the right question etc or entering a room and having the Forensics skill.

Koale: He nods his head but his words are at odds with his nod “I’m not implying anything, I’m simply saying that if the dwarf isn’t a requirement to get paid.  Only information on the situation.”

Director: “You definitely get the idea that he wouldn’t mind if the dwarf doesn’t make it back at all.”

Vlad: “What if all of us don’t make it back, who gets their gold?”

Koale: “It’s 50 gold per person that returns with the information.  If any of you think that you can’t handle some rag tag bandits, undoubtedly long gone by the time you get there, then perhaps you should reconsider your choice.”

Vlad: “Just wanted clarification.” I make a mental note about this guys insult to me for future reference.

Ferril: “You got a problem with bandits around here?”

Koale: “Not really, especially that far out.”

Larrius: “Can you give us more information on…”

[Non-mechanical dialogue here for a bit as the players converse with Koale and then go talk to Snaggli who swears that the bandits were in fact undead.  During this discussion the players ask the appropriate questions to trigger the following secondary information/clues - some of the so called undead were yelling in common when they attacked, not very undead like and Snaggli ran early in the fight after getting hit twice breaking his arm.  A First Aid check reveals that the wound on his face was created by a sharp blade and not claws as Snaggli insists.  He eventually concedes that maybe he's got his facts wrong.]

Director: Lacking the funds to put up as a deposit for horses you’re forced to walk, turning the  day’s ride into a two day walk to get to the old watch tower known as Falconcrest.  You’re rained on most of the time, the skies staying cloudy and low, swollen with water that shows no signs of letting up.  Snaggli has proven a sullen and brooding traveling companion getting quieter the closer you get to your destination.  It doesn’t take you long to figure he’s very much not a fighter and in fact is a bit of a coward.

“You spot the tower in the distance, shrouded and dimly seen from the sheets of rain falling down.  It’s about 2 miles away when you first see it although under clear skies it would probably be visible for several miles.  Tower sits atop a hill which gives it a good view of the countryside.  Snaggli has informed you that the scholar’s camp was located down the hill in a flattened area in front of the tower.   With some good questions you’ve jogged his memory of the area and have what he swears is a fairly accurate drawing of the area.   As the rain washes away the scratchings in the mud you decided to just close in.

The details of the tower become clearer as draw closer and you can see it’s a large watch tower the entrance is on the second floor a broken but mostly intact set of steps winding up to it.   Crossbow slits in the upper stories reveal that the interior flooring is mostly missing as you can see what little light filtering through the clouds and rain inside.   About 100 yards below the tower you can see the drab grey cloth of several tents, under a wooden leanto a fire is burning sullenly against the damp.

Ferril: “I motion the others to halt and we observe for a bit.  Obviously that fire’s not been burning for the last 4 days.”

Director: Perception checks please, -3 for the reduced visibility.
Ferril: Ugh an 8 total.
Shamus:  A 9.
Larrius:  11 here.
Vlad: Uh… a 29?

Director: “Three of you spot nothing unusual, Vlad you spot a few things the others don’t notice at first.  The very faint remnants of a drag trail lead off to the east toward a ravine or gully, almost impossible to see after all the rain that’s fallen but somehow your keen eyes pick it up.   You also catch a brief movement of a shadow inside the closest tent as something moves inside and obscures the faint light of the fire on the other side.  There are also recent marks in the mud where something has moved among the tents and back and forth up the hill to the tower’s main entrance.”

Vlad: “I motion the others closer and quietly and quickly point out what I’ve seen.  What kind of cover is there in the area?”

Director: “The hillsides are mostly bare with some dense tangles of the thick thorny low growing bushes of the region that are maybe 1 to 2 feet high.  This site was obviously chosen for its views and the land around the tower probably sloped and graded to remove any cover.”

Ferril: “We either go down and face the guys in the tents or retreat.  I’m voting for attack.”

[Group: The Director gives them a couple of minutes of real time to come up with a plan and as they continue to discuss it, the time passing triggers an event.  If the players had come to a decision on something then an alternate event would have occurred.  It's a mechanic to keep the game moving along.]

Director: “One of the flaps of the tent directly opposite of you moves and is then thrown aside and a man steps out, dressed in peasant clothing, muddy but with a skull for a head.  Or so it seems at first but you quickly see it’s a skull painted on his face.  His gaze sweeps across the area including the spot where the four of you are huddled in conversation.”
[Perception roll of 13, -3 for the overcast but +5 for the obvious band of characters standing out in the open for a total of 15 or success.]
“He spots you and lets out a yell and in quick order others start to appear around and from the tents until you see 9 figures in all, all in white skull facepaint, 3 armed with crossbows and the others with swords.  Snaggli upon seeing the man screams and flees in terror off to the right and dives into a pile of thorny shrubbery, crying in pain as the inch long thorns pierce his skin.”

[Director: We start combat at this point and initiative cards are dealt out.  The system makes use of a playing card mechanic for initiative.  I liked it in Savage Worlds as it insures there are no ties.  And dealing the cards out onto character cards in front of me makes for very quick initiative 'rolling' and makes it very easy for me as the GM to continually see what the current order is, who's delaying their turn and who's up next and I can put tokens on each one to indicate damage and conditions.

You can use d20's though and have everyone roll them and add their Grace or Intellect value as an optional mechanic.  A couple of feats would need to be changed to add flat bonuses instead but it's easily doable that way.

The cultists are divided up into two groups, Melee and Ranged for personal convenience sake.  I typically divide them up by type and also sub-divide them up into groups of 3-5 depending on how many there are.  Bosses and Lieutenants usually get their own initiative cards.

Disclaimer: Typically you'd make this wet sodden muddy terrain difficult terrain but having everyone slowly moving into range with each other wouldn't accomplish much but a lot of missed ranged attacks or rounds where no one did anything but move.  As this is a playtest I elected to treat the ground as having enough hard packed dirt and rock patches that it counted as normal terrain instead.]

Combat 1 – Round 1

Ferril: AD     Larrius:  2C    Vlad:  10S    Shamus:  JH    Cultists Melee:  10C    Cultists Ranged: 4S

Ferril: “How far away are they again?”

Director: “They’re about 30 squares away or 150 feet’.”

Ferril: “And we see just the 9 of them?   No more?”

Larrius: “JUST the 9?  Are you crazy!?

Director: “No others that you can see at the moment.  Ferril I see you selected the trait First To Fight.  I’m going to invoke that Trait if you’re willing.  You’ll get one Rewrite for it.”
[Note: Each character has several Traits, descriptive words or phrases.  The Director can trigger those when they see an opportunity for them to affect how the player plays their character.  The player gets a Rewrite for accepting the trigger.   The players can do the inverse, trigger their own Traits for a bonus or advantage in which case the Director earns a Rewrite.]

Ferrill: “Okay I’m going to double move toward them at a run yelling for the others to join me and screaming my battle cry, “SPOOON!”.  I have a run of 10 so I can cover 20 squares this round.”
[Note: A double move consumes a character's entire turn and lets them move twice.  By running Ferril moves even farther per move and gains a bonus against missile fire, it's harder to hit a moving target after all.  But if there's anyone that can hit him with melee, they get a bonus to hit because it's harder to defend yourself when you're running full out, after all.]

Director: “That works quite well for that trait invocation.  Here’s a Rewrite.”

Shamus: “Well that decides what we’re going to do, I summon the full power of Mitrol’s Forge Fire and imbue my maul with flames and then run after Ferril.”
[The player is going to activate the Buff Damage power she has.  When she picked the power as one of her starting powers she chose the Buff rather than Debuff option with the effect of a single tick Damage Over Time with the flavor text of Fire/Flames.  It costs one power point to generate the base effect, the bonus damage and a second power point to generate the Effect, in this case the DoT.   The player rolls 9+3 = 12 on the activation roll which is a failure.  To make an activation attempt costs one power point unless the power only costs 1 power point in which case the activate attempt is free.  Because she was going to burn 2 points she loses 1.]

Director: “The extreme damp seems to be causing you a problem Shamus.  Maybe next turn.  You cover 8 squares.”
[No real mechanical issue with the damp, it's just flavor text to explain the failure.]

Vlad: “I get into my firing stance and put an arrow into one of the ones with a crossbow. So that’s -3 for the visibility, -2 for the range since it’s outside normal, -2 for the second action, +2 for Marksman Stance and +3 for my Ranged skill.  I rolled a 15-2 total bonus for 13 which is a hit!  Sweet.  I roll 3d6 and get… 25!?  Awesome.”
[Note:  Marksman Stance is a knack the player added which grants +2 but restricts the character to a single ranged attack action for their turn.  Because damage can 'explode' or 'ace' you can get higher than the normal maximum on any given roll.  Exploding means if you roll the highest possible result on a dice then you keep that number and roll it again adding the next roll to the total.  You keep doing that until you stop rolling the highest value, 6 in this case.

Also note even though it's raining Vlad was able to have his bow out.  In LCA it's all about not dicking the players for their choices so wet bow strings are simply that, wet bow strings, they work just as well as wet sword blades or wet magic users.  An important tenant of LCA is "Don't screw a player out of being able to play his character unless you screw them all equally."]

Director: “Your arrow speeds through the gloom and embeds itself in the forehead of the one with the crossbow on the left.  His head snaps back and the rain falls on his face for a moment before he falls backwards with a splash in the water and mud.  The crossbow discharges as it hits the ground and a quarrel punches through a nearby tent to vanish into the distance.”
[Note: Let's see how we got the result -  25 damage minus the target's 6 Physical Damage Reduction is 19 damage excess.  So you get 4 degrees of success on that damage. 1+19/5.   The cultist is a minion which means 2 or more degrees of success disable it for the combat.  As a personal methodology I tend to kill outright any minion hit with 3 or more DoS's.

Either the player or the Director can describe the effects.  Players can use an awesome description as a chance to earn a Rewrite or just let the Director do it for them.]

Director: “Ferril,  several of the ones armed with swords rush forward, one of them moves over to his fallen companion and picks up the crossbow laying there and turns with it, the last moves in front of the archers.  With a quick yank he reloads it and brings it to bear on Vlad, screaming something about avenging his brother.  The quarrel flies out… and seems like it would have missed but a strong gust of wind drops it’s arching flight and it sinks into Vlad’s shoulder! ”
[Note: The cultist ended up with a 12 as his attack roll after penalties were assigned, normally a miss.  But he rolled two 4's on his attack roll giving him 4 stunt points.  I spent those for the "Lucky Break" stunt which lets you add up to +2 to an attack that missed to turn it into a hit.  Damage rolled was a paltry 8.  Subtracting Vlad's PDR of 6 we end up with one degree of success on the damage which will cause Vlad to be Dazed on his next turn.    A dazed character tries to recover from being dazed by making a Resolve roll, or by spending a Rewrite to get rid of it.   Daze lasts for a single turn.  WHen you're dazed you can only take a single action on your turn, your rolls are at -5 and you are slowed.]

Vlad: “Ouch!  I rip the quarrel out of my shoulder.  I just bought this armour!”

Melee Cultists: “The four figures with swords swarm over and around Ferril running just as quickly as him.  Three of them stop to attack Ferril and the fourth runs toward Shamus.  The first one swings and hits the blow stopped by Ferril’s chainmail.  The second one swings and misses but just barely.  The last winds up and lunges at Ferril and hits and hammers Ferril to the ground knocking him prone in the mud and dazing him!  The last one closes the distance with Shamus but ends up way short.”
[Note:  At three on 1 they get +2 MOB bonus on their attacks and each one actually has MOB Training which is a NPC/Monster ability which gives them +1 additional bonus when they get MOB bonus so they end up with +3 on their Melee attacks.   Because they ran on their turn though they suffer a -2 on their attack rolls and are at -2 on their Evasion until the start of their next turn.   The first one hit but did too little damage to get through Ferril's PDR.  The second one flat out missed.  The third one rolled a hit for 8 damage resulting in a Dazing blow and got 2 Stunt Points and spent them to knock Ferril prone.]

Director: “The two original crossbowmen take aim, with Ferril down and surrounded by their own allies he’s not a great target so they look over the field and decided to put two into the guy in robes figuring him for a wizard.  It’s a long shot and they’re not that great but they know it can be done thanks to the guy who shot Vlad.  Two quarrels launch out…. one goes flying off to sink into the mud behind Larrius.  The other archer, hands slippery on the wet wood jerks the trigger as he almost drops it while bringing it up and the quarrel releases directly at one his friends and sinks into his back! The body collapses on top of Ferril bleeding out and unconscious!”
[Note:  The penalties are pretty bad, -5 total for them to hit far targets and they have a skill of 0 being barely trained in ranged weapons use.  But one of them rolled a critical failure or double 1's on their attack roll.  Critical failures usually result in something bad, in this case the situation made for an easy situational call; the guy simply shot at one of their friends so they make a second attack roll which in this case hit one of their allies for 15 points of damage resulting in 2 degrees of success on the damage knocking him unconscious.  His fate will be determined at the end of the encounter.]

[Edit: Disclaimer, I forgot to 'kill' this guy on the battle map so there ended up being 10 of these guys not 9 as this guy was kept in play.]

Larrius: “Ice crackles and forms on my hands and as I point my palms up the hill two needle pointed shafts of hard ice lance out, one each at two of the crossbowman.”
[Note: Larrius as one of his powers selected Direct Damage power which is a ranged single target attack calling it Ice Lance.  He selected the effect Target is Slowed and flavor text of Ice for the power.   He can target one creature with a higher damage attack or two creatures with a lower damage.   When attacking two creatures he does have to make to separate activation rolls complete with offhand penalty.  The first activation roll is a 7.  Add in the -5 for range and visibility and he ends up with a 2.  Not great.  The second roll is a 13 but not only has the -5 for range and visibility but another -3 for offhand which leaves him with a 5.  This costs him 1 power point.]

Director: “Two spears of ice crack into the ground far wide of their intended targets and shatter into pieces, the mud freezing solid at the point of impact.”

Larrius: “Perhaps I should move closer.”

Aftermath: One of the ranged cultists is down, dead, replaced by one of the melee cultists. (Note: Should be two down thanks to friendly fire) Ferril is prone and dazed on the ground, Vlad is dazed.   Both Larrius and Shamus burned one power point but recover it with the end of turn recovery.  3 Ranged and 5 Melee cultists remain.

Combat 1 Round 2:

Ferril: 6S     Larrius:  7S    Shamus:  KC    Vlad:  QH    Cultists Melee :  6D   Cultists Ranged: QS

Shamus: “Let’s see I can reach this guy without running so I’m going to try again to buff my maul, then move to him and hit him with it.   He ran last turn so I’m going to be +2 to hit.   Here we go!”
[Note: Shamus is only 4 squares from the bad guy.   She gets a massive 25 on her power activation roll but on this power it doesn't net any special bonus effect.  Her power is active though.  Her max power pool just dropped by 2 points from 8 to 6.  She cannot recover higher than 6 in her pool as long as this power is active.  She moves up to the cultist charging her and rolls a 15.  Adding her +2 for the target's running and her Melee skill of 2 she gets a 19.   The cultist has a 14 Evasion which nets her 2 degrees of success on the hit.  19 is higher than 14 for 1 DoS.  19-14  = 5/5 = 1 for 1 additional DoS.  This lets her add 1 die to her damage pool so she's rolling 4d6.  She also netted 7 stunt points on this roll.   She's going to spend them on Fast Dart which will let her move up to her base speed after the attack because she expects to put this guy down with this hit.  She rolls damage and gets 29 points, adds +1 for the flames and +2 for her Strength for 32 total points.  The target is covered in flames that will do 1/2 this damage on their next turn or 16 damage not that it matters since he just got mushed.]

Shamus: “The power of my god bursts forth from my maul leaving streams of fire in the air as I swing it, crushing this thugs head into splinters.  Flames drop down his body setting his clothes on fire.  I don’t even slow down but continue moving to help Ferril.  I scream an oath at the others slinging brains and flame off my maul, ‘You’re going to burn in Mitrol’s forge for an eternity creatures of darkness!’”

Director: “Awesome move.  Here have  Rewrite.”
[Note: Director's are encouraged to encourage awesome play along with awesome descriptions with Rewrites which let the players rewrite history as it happens by re-rolling, negating damage, adding to a scene etc.  Each player starts the session with 3 and they always start any encounter with at least 1.  They're typically limted to a maximum of 5 to encourage the use of the Rewrite for more levels of Awesome.]

Ranged Cultists : “All three focus on Shamus as she comes screaming over the muddy field with that fiery maul through the red mist that was their fellow cultist moments earlier.  She’s in normal range now and the visiblity penalty is reduced to -1 at this range as well.  The first quarrel misses high. The second quarrel misses low, skimming past her left leg.   The third quarrel goes wide to the left.  The thugs are obviously shaken by her display of power.  They start screaming “Orcus help us!”
[Note: Nothing special with this round, just a lot of really crappy rolls.  They're yelling for help which awaits in the nearby tower but the rain, distance and wind help prevent anyone from hearing their cries for help.  This both 'realistic' and contrived to help separate encounters.  The cultists supposedly on watch in the tower are huddling over a small fire oblivious to the fate of their friends. ]

Vlad: “I give my head a shake to clear it.  I take aim again with the bow and let fly at one of the archers!”
[Note: Vlad makes a Daze Recovery check which is a Resolve roll and gets a 17 and is undazed but still limited to a single action.  It's kinda complicated but +2 for stance, +3 for skill, -2 for range, -3 for visibility which results in a wash.  The roll is an 18 which results in 2 DoS.   18 is higher than 13 for 1.  18-13 = 5 / 5 = 1 for 2 total DoS.  Vlad rolls 4d6 damage and nets 12 points of damage.  Not awesome but enough.  That's 2 DoS against the cultists (12-6 = 6/5 = 2. )]

Director: “One of the crossbowman takes an arrow deep in his belly and collapses out of the fight as he struggles to keep his blood from pouring out around his hands.”

Larrius: “Let see, if I run 8 squares that puts me at… 22 squares out?  Crap.  Okay I double move to get closer, I have to get rid of some of these penalties.”
[Note: A double move would put him 16 squares closer to the fight, make him harder to hit by the archers for a turn and since there's no one melee'ish to attack him it's a win win although he's giving up this turn just to get closer.  At 14 squares out he'll be in normal range for his ice lance power and reduce his total penalty by -2.]

Ferril: “What the hell is going on, why is this guy lying on me?!  I shake it off and stand up and attack the nearest foe.”

Shamus: “Why don’t you shift back and Second Wind?”
[Note: A PC can spend their turn taking a little breather called Second Wind after the same mechanic in D&D 4E and doing so will recover one box of damage that's been incurred during the current encounter.  Taking this action occupies their entire turn and causes Opportunity Attacks usually.  With additional knacks a character could turn Second window into a normal action and allow a chance to recover up to 2 boxes of damage.]

Ferril: “I can’t, no matter where I shift I’ll be adjacent to one of them and Second Wind will provoke an attack on me.  I’ll just beat them now.”
[Note: Ferril fails his Resolve check and chooses to spend a Rewrite to get rid of the Dazed effect otherwise the only thing he could do would be to stand (one action when dazed) or lash out from the ground at a enemy (-5 from dazed, -2 from prone) at -7.   He elects to spend the rewrite so he has a normal turn and stand up and attacks.  He rolls a 14, adds his melee skill of 3 for a 17 and gets 4 stunt points.  He spends it on the Powerful Attack stunt and adds another die of damage to his pool for a total of 4d6 and gets a massive 9 whole damage.  He barely manages to daze one of the cultists.]

Director: “Might want to try cleaning off that axe handle so you can hold it right and hit harder with it.”

Melee Cultists: “The three cultists decide to deal with the problem at hand rather than the one barreling down on them with a flaming maul.  They attack Ferril as a mob, two of the Shifting to get Flanking.”
[Note: Two of the culists are now directly opposite each other with Ferril between them, they shifted to avoid taking Opportunity Attacks from leaving a threatened square.  This gives these two an additional +1 Flanking bonus for a total of +4 to hit.  The dazed cultist fails to recover from the dazing effect and suffers a -5 on his single action which is to attack Ferril.  But even so he hits, the second cultist hits and the third hits with a critical attack!  Not looking good for Ferril.  The first hit glances off Ferril's armour.   The second one hit's harder though and dazes our sturdy warrior. Knowing he's about to get hit with a critical attack Ferril debates spend a Rewrite to remove the dazed effect since that adds bonus damage to any attack that hits him while he's dazed but decides against it.  He suffers 14 damage, +3 for being dazed or 17 damage.  Subtracting his 7PDR results in 10 left or a total of 3 DoS.  The first is a dazing effect but he's already dazed so no problem.  The next two DoS's though will put him two steps down the Physical Damage Tracker.   He elects to spend a Rewrite to Shake It Off.   He gets one success on a Fortitude check which reduces the damage by the same amount.  He marks off the first open box on the left of his Physical Damage tracker with a single slash.  If he doesn't get it healed during this fight or during the short rest afterwards the slash becomes an X and requires a full extended rest before it can be recovered.

Note: As you can see, mobbing an opponent and flanking can yield huge benefits on top of the obvious 'focus fire'  advantage.]

Aftermath: Ferril and Shamus have taken two boxes of damage out of four.  They’re both dazed.   Two of the cultists are dead, one dying.   There are 2 ranged cultists and 4 melee cultists remaining.   Shamus’s power pool is down to 6 max now while her weapon buff is running.

Combat 1 Round 3:

Ferril: 6H     Larrius:  3C    Shamus:  8D    Vlad:  2H    Cultists Melee x3:  RJ   Cultists Rangedx3: AC

[Note: the melee cultists have a Red Joker which adds +2 to any and all rolls they make.  A direct rip off of Savage Worlds. It's not looking good for Ferrill.  There's a good chance we'll see how the death save system works.]

Melee Cultists x 3: “They continue to beat on Ferril who’s currently Dazed.  They’re at a total of +5 to hit this round against him and +3 damage when they hit due to his being Dazed.  The first hits, the second one critical hits, the third one hits.”
[Note:  The first one deals 2 DoS damage.  Ferril spends a Rewrite to remove one box (rather than rolling and hoping for more.  This causes him to merely be dazed if he wasn't already.  Which he was.  The second attack only deals 2D0S even though the cultist had 4d6 in his pool.  Although he does have one more Rewrite left he decides to hold onto it and fills in one more box on the PDT.  The last hit merely dazes him.  He got off really lucky all things considered.  With only two boxes filled on the PDT he's not even taking any negatives although he's out of buffer space.  He's also hoping that Shamus shows up with some healing as well.]

Ranged Cultist: “They reload and fire again, two shooting at Shamus and the third aiming at Vlad.  Shamus is hit once!  Twice!  Vlad is missed wide.  The first quarrel in Shamus spins her a bit causing her to stumble and slow.  The second quarrel sinks deep in her side as a result.”
[Note:  The first shot Dazed Shamus and the second one dealt 3DoS or 2 boxes of physical damage.  The player takes it rather than spending a Rewrite to Shake It Off counting on her ability to heal her self with her powers.]

Shamus: “I don’t let the two quarrels sticking out of me bother me any!  I invoke the healing powers of Mitrol’s flames to burn away the damage!  I’m going to continue moving toward the dog pile on Ferril afterwards. That should put me in range to taunt one of them off of him right?  Yo!  Skullface!  I’m going to make you my bitch!”
[Note: Shamus makes a daze recovery check and gets a 18+Skill of 3 for 21,  -2 because she's taking two actions on her turn for 20 for two DoS's.   She easily shakes off the dazing effect and has her full action without having to spend a Rewrite.  She makes an activation roll  on her Healing power electing to spend two points of power so she doesn't suffer a level of fatigue and gets a total of 19 (17+3-2) for 2 degrees of success.   She erases the slashes in the two boxes she'd marked on her PDT.   Her run puts her within 5 squares of the mass of cultists attacking Ferril.  She then rolls her Taunt and gets a 33 ?!?.  This is an opposed skill versus the target's Intellect who rolls a 13.  The dice or rather solar flares love our cleric at the moment.  The target cultist is now at a -2 to attack anyone but her and suffers the Shaken state which is just a generic condition that assigns a -2 penalty to all rolls for one turn.]

Ferril: “Shamus’ cries bolster my courage and I swing to plant my axe in one of these prick’s faces.”
[Ferril is  Dazed so makes a Daze Recovery and easily undazes with a total of 18 and gets his full action this round.  He swings his axe  and gets a 16, a hit.  Damage rolled is 18 which is 18-6 or 3 DoS's.  He also rolled 5 Stunt Points on his attack roll and spends it on a Cleave stunt which lets him make a second attack roll as a free action on an secondary adjacent target and scores a hit!   The second attack nets 27 damage!]

Director: “Blood fountains high in the gloom as your battle axe scythes around catching one and then a second of the cultists at neck level.  Two heads tumble into the muck and the bodies stand for a moment before fall backwards.  Awesome round for you, here’s a Rewrite.”
[Note: It's recommend that for players with 1 or no Rewrites that you be more generous rewarding Awesome than for someone with 5.  And getting two 'kill shots' on one turn and not using an AOE to do it even if they're minions is pretty awesome.]

Larrius: “Sweet hit Ferril!   I move up and I’m going to put two ice lances in the guy guarding the two crossbowmen, I’m feeling a little exposed up here.  Vlad you need to put down the crossbowmen!”
[Note: Larrius has now actually moved farther than Ferril at this point and since Range and AOE attacks cause Opportunity Attacks he's wanting to get rid of the melee guy in favor of the archers.  He spends his power point and makes his activation roll.   His first roll is a 10, +3 for his skill results in a hit.  The second roll is a 14+3 is a 17.   Both normal hits.   He rolls damage for each one.  The first is 7 which will Daze the target.  The second damage roll is 5, +3 for the target being dazed for 8.  Larrius decides to Rewrite history and re-roll the second damage roll and gets a 7 for a total of 10.  Still just a daze result.  He curses and ends his turn.]

Director: “Two bolts of rock hard ice fly out and smash into splinters on the cultists armour and sword leaving frost patches on him and staggering him a bit.”

Vlad: “I loose another goose at one of the crossbowmen.”
[Note: The pluses and minuses balance leaving him a flat roll versus 13.  He rolls a 21!  21-13 is 8 or 2 DoS's.  He adds 1 die to his damage pool for 4d6 total and gets 18 damage.  18 - 6PDR is 12 for 3 DoS's.

Director: "One of the crossbowman falls backwards gurgling as blood fountains from a hole through his throat where Vlad's razor sharp arrow has cut through it."

Aftermath: The group has done some good work this round.  Of the 9 original cultists only 3 remain standing, 1 is dying, the rest are dead and aside from the damage Ferril has taken the rest are looking good.  Shamus and Larrius recover 1 power point and have 5 and 8 respectively.

Combat 1 Round 4:

Ferril: 10S     Larrius:  9D    Shamus:  8C    Vlad:  KH    Cultists Melee:  JS   Cultists Ranged: 6S

Vlad: "This is working so well why not lather rinse repeat.  I loose another arrow at the last crossbowman."
[Note:  Vlad's getting some huge rolls, he ends up with 29.  29-13 is 16 or 4 DoS's.  2H Ranged weapons have a base of 3d6 damage but max at 4d6 so most of those DoS's go to waste.  With 4d6 he only gets 11 damage.  But that's enough for 2 D0S's against a 6PDR.]

Director: “The crossbowman spins as an arrow sinks deep into the left side of his chest piercing his lung, he stumbles and falls to his knees as his lung collapses his whole purpose in life trying to breath at the moment.”

Melee Cultists: “The one that is Taunted by Shamus screams and attacks her swinging his sword wildly.”

Shamus: “I dodge, with Ferril standing there to crush the bastard I can take the penalty.”
[Note: When a character dodges they add the higher of their Grace or Intellect value to their Evasion versus the next attack.  They suffer a penalty of the same amount on their turn on their Skill rolls.  This gives Shamus a +4 Evasion versus the cultists attack.]

Director: “Shamus you try to dodge the incoming blow but the cultist’s fury driven blade finds your flesh anyway.  The blade cuts through your armour and deep into your side in a spray of blood possibly nicking a lung.”
[Note: The cultists rolled a 19, -2 for being Shaken from Shamus' taunt although that goes away at the end of this turn.  +1 for his skill for a 18 versus Shamus Evasion of 12+4 or 16.  A normal hit.  Damage is 18 for versus Shamus's 8 PDR resulting in 3DoS's.]

Shamus: “Son of a bitch!  I’m going to try and Shake It Off.”
[Note: She spends a Rewrite and rolls her Fortitude for a total 18 (17 + Fort 1) which is 2DoS and reduces the damage by 2 leaving 1 DoS so she's just dazed.]

Director: The damage wasn’t as bad as it looked, a lot of blood though.

Melee Cultist: “The last melee rushes Larrius screaming something about Orcus and die non-believer!”
[Larrius moved within a normal move so why.  The cultist uses the Rush move which adds +2 damage to a melee attack made at the end of the move.  The cultist rolls a 16 on his attack roll but... gets a critical failure wtih 2 1's.  D'oh!]

Director: “The cultist charges you Larrius and right as he reaches you his left foot sinks into a water filled hole and he slams down into ground striking his head hard and is dazed.”

Ferril: “I use precision attack on the bastard attacking Shamus and if he dies I run at the last crossbowman. ”
[Note: Precision attack is a knack that any character can purchase and trades damage potential for a bonus to hit.   Ferril rolls a 20 + 3 for melee skill + 2 for Precision Attack or 25 total.  That's 25-14 = 3 DoS's.   Ferril rolls 5d6 for damage and gets 16 damage or (16-6 = 3 DoS's).  Ferril has also set up a triggered action so that if he kills the cultist he can use his move action.]

Ferril: “My axe cuts deep into his shoulder and down into his chest to end up buried in his heart.  I kick the body off and turn to glare around the battlefield.”

Larrius: “Well well this is a bonus.  I lance this guy to the ground with a single powerful ice lance.”
[Note: Larrius is going for the higher damage single target option on his Ice Lance.  He also gets a bonus of +2 versus the prone target because it's within 5 squares on his activation roll and +3 damage because the target is dazed.  He rolls 18+3 for his skill, +2 for the prone target for 23 total or 3 DoS adding +1 die to his damage pool for a total of 4d6.  Ranged attacks are capped at 4d6.  If this had been a 2H Melee attack it would have been 5d6.   He only gets 10 damage rolled, +3 for 13.  But that's enough to put this minion on the Dying track.   he also generated 2 stunt points on his activation roll and spends it on Shuffle Step and shifts one square closer to the last crossbowman.]

Larrius: “A shaft of ice launches from my hand and stabs into this asshole’s shoulder pinning him to the ground and freezing the rain all across his back and into his hair.”

Shamus: “Crap, just the one guy left and he’s out of range of a single move.  I charge him with a double move.”

Ranged Cultist: “He levels his crossbow at the speeding Ferril and Shamus and picks the one with the firey hammer and looses his quarrel.”
[Note: Because both of them are Running they're harder to hit with ranged attacks which suffer a -2 against them.   The crossbowman rolls a 15 + 1 for his skill, -2 for a 14.  This is enough to hit Shamus.  He rolls 10 damage which is enough to Daze Shamus.]

Director: “Another quarrel punches through your armour and into your thigh Shamus.”

Aftermath: The cultists are down to a single crossbowman alive, 2 are dying and 6 are dead.  The group has spend more than a few Rewrites but earned a couple.

Combat 1 Round 5:

Ferril: JC     Larrius:  8S    Shamus:  6D    Vlad:  KS    Cultists Melee:  5D   Cultists Ranged: Dead

Director: “Not looking good for the last remaining cultist.  He’s alone and looks like he’s going last in initiative.  Vlad you’re up.”

Vlad: “I delay my action, if the cultist makes an aggressive move I put an arrow in him.”
[Note: Vlad has deferred his action, known as 'reserving', going 'on hold' and 'delaying' in various systems.  He's set a trigger to allow him to interrupt another character's actions, in this case he gets a chance to shoot the cultist if the cultist makes attack action.]

Ferril: “I guess we should question one of them huh?  Okay.  ’Drop the sword asshole or I’m going to split your in two and turn you into a gods damn soup tureen!’”
[Note: Ferril is going to try to intimidate the cultist into not acting offensively.  There isn't a mechanical system specifically for this (otherwise people would just use it all the time) but it's up to the Director to adjudicate based on each specific situation.]

Shamus: “Whaaa?  A soup tureen?!”

Ferril: “Yeah you got a problem with that?”
[Note: Ferril makes an Intimidate check versus the cultists Resolve and gets a 15 vs the cultist's 24.  The fanatical follower of Orcus doesn't believe in surrender apparently.]

Director: “The cultist snarls at you, foaming at the mouth the name of Orcus buried frequently in the gibberish he’s spewing along with something about your soul being eaten by beetles forever in the nine hells.”

Larrius: “I gesture in an arcane fashion and summon the power of the ancient ice against this death cult bastard.”
[Note: Larrius is using his Crowd Control power which when he bought it he flavor text'ed it as Icey Shackles and he picked Strength and Grace as the counters to it.  He  generates a 24 on his activation roll which is 3 DoS's.  The target is fully immobilized and suffers a -2 penalty on escape atempts which means it can take no actions based on Grace or Strength and can be Coup de Gras'd at any time as an action on any character's part.]

[Edit: This power has changed somewhat, check following playtests to see details of what's been impacted, the original mechanics are left intact here to allow you to view the differences.]

Shamus: “I pull up and take a moment to clear my head and see what happens, if he breaks free or something else bad happens I put my maul upside his head.”
[Note: The character makes a Daze Recovery check  and gets an 20 and defers her action.]

Melee Cultist: “With a snarl and surge of almost superhuman strength the ice encasing him shatters and he leaps at Ferril frozen sword aimed at the big man’s throat.”
[Note: He rolled a 23 on his escape attempt, -2 for the powerful activation leaves 21-13 = 8 or two degrees of success giving him his full action.   Since Vlad was the first one to go on hold he can attempt to interrupt first.  He makes an Opposed Grace check versus the cultist and gets a 16 versus a 5 for the cultist.  He's able to interupt the cultist's actions and looses an arrow and gets a 13.  Exactly what he needed to hit and hits the cultist for 8 points dazing him.  Shamus who's also deferred her action goes next and rolls a 11 + 3 skill for 14 which is also exactly what she needed.  She rolls 8 damage also, +1 for the flames, +3 for the dazed condition, +2 for her Strength or 14 damage.  14 -6PDR is 8 for two degress of success.  The cultist will also take damage of 8 points on his next turn not that it matters as he's dying.]

[Edit: Under the new mechanic creatures are only allowed to escape at the end of their turn thus insuring that all 'ongoing' conditions work at least one round to give the power users some bang for their bucks.]

Director: “A two foot razor tipped feather ended shaft sinks into the cultists side, cutting the air next t Shamus as the man jumps at Ferrill.  As he stumbles from the pain, Shamus’ maul smashes him in the face snapping his head back, leaving his face in ruins and him unconccious and dying in the muck.  That’s the last of them, 6 dead, 3 dying.  As you check the bodies one of the dying ones expires but if you like you can try to use First Aid to stablize the other two.”

Ferril: “Hmmm I’m not sure I care that much.”

Director: “I’m going to invoke your White Knight trait. they are defenseless and dying at this point.”

Ferril: “Umm no they’re death cultists, I have no doubt they deserve what they’ve gotten.”
[Note: The player turns down the Rewrite the Director is offering if he'll play up to his Trait but the player feels that in this case it's just not appropriate.]

Director: “Up to you.  Okay Ferril has a couple of boxes of damage, I assume Shamus you’re going to use your power to heal him up.  In a non-fantasy magic setting you’d have to use First Aid to try and heal them, you get one attempt and if you fail the boxes with a single / are turned into X’s and you have to take an extended rest before you can attempt to recover them again.  But with magic just take a 5 minute rest and he’ll be healed up.”

Vlad: “I join them and then search for loot.  While they rest I’m going to go check out that gully as well.”

Director: “You take a few minutes to do a quick look around, the tents are empty now but still contain the gear of the scholars although it’s been strewn about and damaged in some cases.   Vlad in the gully you spot the mostly naked and mutilated bodies of 9 dwarfs. They appear to have been dead a day or two at least.  There’s no sign of Snaggli as you look around.  Some bloody thorns and a set of foot steps heading back the way you came.  You can go after him if you wish?  No one?  Okay.  It’s getting a little darker and as you move about the camp you can see there appears to be a faint light coming through the opening in the tower.”

To be continued….

Continue reading »]]> I’ve been meaning to write this and just hadn’t gotten around to it.  I want to offer up some observations, all personal and from 30+ years as player and gamemaster for Pen and Paper RPG’s.  (Who uses pens anyway?  I guess pen is just easier to say than pencil)

It’s about engaging the players and keeping them interested and focused on what’s going on at the table.  First let me state you’re not going to get every player every session every round.   It’s just not going to happen, maybe they’re tired from a long day at work, or having issues at work,  or they’ve had a fight with their significant other, or their car needs costly repairs, or whatever.  Real life intrudes no matter how much we might want to get a few hours to escape it.  Expect it and work around as best you can.

Your goal as a game master is to engage most of the players at the table most of the time during most of your sessions.

To help with this, here are some things that I’ve come up with after thinking and experiencing modern life -

Downtime -

This is a big one to me personally.

You have to reduce the downtime between each player’s turn so they’re not sitting on their thumbs for long stretches of game time.  If the player only gets to actively participate in what’s going on, once every half hour then you’re going to have a serious problem. Even if it’s once every 20 minutes you’re going to have a problem.  IMO you should be shooting for sub 15 minute’s between a given player’s turns and sub 10 is better.

Do whatever it takes to get that time down.  If it means moving out of your game system of choice comfort zone then do it.  Nothing in my opinion will make a player wander off mentally and physically more than having to wait too long between their turns.   There are tons of lighter game systems out there that can reduce the time for a players turn from minutes to a minute or less.  Don’t use a heavy system UNLESS your players are seriously interested in the system directly and the system itself will keep them engaged.

There is a huge list of factors that contribute to this.  The system you’re using, it could be inherently slow due to the number of options each player has to choose from when its their turn.  It could have complicated combat mechanics that require a lot of repeated math and comparisons.  The system may be structured such that it simply takes a lot of time to wear down a the bad guys, aka The Grind.

The players, they could be disengaged when it’s not their turn taking additional time each time it is their turn to get up to speed on what’s going on.

The gamemaster could have so many bad guys and so much data to keep track of for each one that his/her turn takes unduly long.

Something as subtle and simple as the number of dice rolls involved for each participant in the situation, if there are several involved then each one adds up.

The Setting –

If the setting isn’t grabbing the majority of your players then you’re going to get disengagement and honestly if you’re not running or playing in something you’re looking forward to each week then consider coming up with something else.

Game settings and storylines are very strongly influenced, even dictated, by the gamemaster.  In my experience most GM’s have a story they’re wanting to tell and that story unfortunately may not be one that their players are interested in at either the macro or micro levels.  I don’t exempt myself from this issue by the way.  But your idea of a great story may not be interesting to your players or interesting enough to engage them.

Maybe the player doesn’t like the excessive roleplay segments but the world setting is interesting.  Maybe they don’t like the excessive combat segments because they’re not playing a combat oriented character.   Maybe they want to be killing zombies instead of dragons or the other way around.

But if you’re not engaging your players with the setting then you have to engage them with something else.  And vice versa again.

The System –

Not everyone enjoys the same mechanics in a system.  Many people for instance find the Fudge system too simple.  Others find GURPS too complicated.  Some people enjoy the Aspects of the Fate system while to others they’re just a “Uh what now? How does a parking lot have aspects?”

I don’t personally believe that a system will make or break a campaign as long as the gamemaster is familiar with it enough so that it doesn’t get in the way of the story.  But if every 5 minutes you’re having to look up rules because you’re not sure exactly what happens when you grapple someone or how damage is computed or what determines success on a skill check etc.   Then odds are you’re in for trouble in terms of keeping your players interested in what’s going on.

Modern Day Reality –

Let’s face it, the players are not the same players the were 20-30 years ago.  We’ve played MMOG’s, CRPG’s, we’ve got RPG’s on our phones for goodness sake.   We’re used to, spoiled by and expecting swift game play, infrequently missing, and lots of POW! and Kablam!  We simply aren’t the same as we were back then.   We don’t have the time to invest in gaming.

And I don’t know about your players but my experience hasn’t been great in getting old players to learn new tricks.  Or even show a minimal amount of interest in new tricks at times.

So What Can You Do?

That’s probably what you’re asking yourself and struggling with if you’ve come across this article and it hit home enough to get you this far.

On some levels I wish I could tell you something other than find try again or find players who slot better with what you’re trying to do.

But that’s rarely an option for most locations at least in finding physical bodies to sit in chairs, virtual gaming is a horse of another color and not germane to this post and comes with it’s own host of issues.

So I’ll offer this little nugget of wisdom which I’m sure you’ve never heard before, “Know your players.  Know what drives them to show up.”

And “If your desires and the players desires don’t mesh, don’t try to force it.  You’re doomed to failure.”

Design your story around those drives and desires.  If it’s hack and slash group, then throw dungeon crawls at them with vast amounts of loot and monsters to take it away from.

Say yes to your players. I repeat, say yes to your players.  Don’t come up with ways to screw them.  If a system is inherently screwing the PC’s then fix it, do away with the mechanic or get a new system.  I have one golden rule in designing my own game system, if a mechanic sucks then it’s coming out.  There’s a difference between a mechanic that adds difficulty/tension and one that sucks.  Spell memorization sucks.  Making death saves when you’re dying adds tension.

Learn you’re system or know your system.  Yes you might end up having to shoehorn a size 9 hiking boot onto a size 3 ballerina’s foot to make a system work for something it wasn’t intended to do but at least you won’t waste time looking up rules.  And hopefully you’ll be able to keep the game moving quickly enough to keep most of the players entertained at a given time.

And a key rule, if you’re not having fun as a GM then again don’t bother.  If you’re not having fun there’s just little to no chance you’re going to be able to make it fun for your players.

Don’t railroad your story.  The story that you think is just oh so damn cool, the players may end up with a been there, done that or I’d rather be buying rope.  So be flexible and learn to read your players.  If they’re browsing ESPN on their laptops while you’re trying to play a game then odds are you’re story is of little interest to them.   In a side note, if they’re wandering away when it’s not their turn, odds are you’re system of choice is taking too long to play out and they’re simply getting bored waiting.

Boring, don’t bore your players.  Don’t have scenes where most of the players didn’t need to be there but were forced to.   If you do have to focus on a single player for undue amounts of time make sure that the other players have at least the appearance of having something to do during the encounter even if you’re just pretending and nothing they do will have any impact.   And make sure they don’t know that.

And finally don’t force it.  I used to have a saying, primarily right after Ultima Online came out, if it was pretty obvious that the majority weren’t paying attention I’d close my notes and say “Okay disinterest has reared it’s head, we’ll try again next week.” and we’d spend the rest of the evening talking about something else.   Just because you’re pumped and ready to go doesn’t mean you’re players are and you have to learn to recognize that and work around it.

I hope something here helps you get a more engaged players and more engaging materials to present to them.  Because nothing kills your own enjoyment of this particular hobby than presenting it to players who aren’t interested.

Continue reading »]]> Just a recap of what’s been added/changed/removed since the last update -

I’ve added a tactical incentive by adding the concept of Flanking.  I know original huh?   It combines with the MOB mechanic (multiple opponent bonus).  With MOB you get +1 on your melee attack roll for each ally also attacking your target with melee.  (slightly different than the Gang Up rule of Savage Worlds).   In addition if you and an ally are on directly opposite sides of the target you gain an additional +1.

The idea is to promote teamwork and tactical movement, get players playing together rather than a bunch of characters who happen to be interacting with the same other set of characters.   I think 4E is the first system that really encouraged that that I’ve used with all the set up movement, buffing, debuffing, marking and etc.   Cleric’s getting hit?  Fighter’s mark the targets and they instantly get -2 to hit the cleric.   Rogue needs help?  Warlord yoinks his target between them giving the rogue combat advantage so he can get a sneak attack off.   That kind of thing.

A lot of that comes back to engaging the players at the table.  But that’s a topic for another post that I keep meaning to write and getting sidetracked on.

I’ve also added Backstabber as a Knack.  It adds +1 dice of damage to a melee attack.  The catch is you have to have Flanking with an Ally and you get it only if you go immediately after your ally hits the same target with a Melee attack.   I’m trying to make it useful enough to take but not so useful that everyone takes it.   I think the +dice of damage is pretty significant but since it requires teamwork and synchronizing actions to get the bonus damage, the limitations offset that.

This Knack has the pre-req of you must have the Sneaky Bastard knack which currently gives you the following benefits, against an non-active target (i.e. someone not in combat) you get both a bonus on your attack roll and get to roll twice and take the higher of the two.    You also grant +1 MOB bonus to an ally of your choice when you’re both attacking the same target.   Another positive reinforcement for team play.

I’m also going to add special mechanical effects to some powers, at the very least the Direct Damage power and probably the Area Effect Damage powers.   When you take the power you pick an effect assigned to it along with the appropriate flavor text.  Like Fire Bolt  or Acid Stream or Force Ball.

Each effect only lasts a single turn or instance and the target gets to make a general saving throw against it since it doesn’t cost anything for the caster to use it.   The effects were originally designed around elemental flavor text for the powers, fire for the dot, earth for the blind, etc.   But you could use various elements in various incarnations to achieve each one.  So now you pick the effect with your power.  If you want a different effect you have to spend a level up to buy the power again with a different effect.

The DD power obviously affects one target.  My current thinking is with the AOE Damage power that it affects the closest target to the center of the AOE, players choice if more than one apply.

• Dot  - You have a chance to put a one round DoT (damage over time) on the target. Opposed by Resolve.
• Blind – You have a chance to blind the target for one round.  Opposed by Intellect.
• Slow – You have a chance to slow the target for one round. Opposed by Strength
• Push – You have a chance to slide  the target one square. Opposed by Fortitude
• Splash – You have a chance to deal half damage to one target adjacent to the original target. Opposed by Grace

As possible option I might make the effect guaranteed but have it cost one power point.  I’m not sure which way I like it more.  As a resource management tactic or randomly generated?  Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Synergy rolls are getting some love or at least attention.  I really want groups a chance to be able to sneak as a group without the inevitable bad roll jacking it up.  I want characters are who are well skilled in something to be able to help the ones that aren’t do better.

Also teamwork rolls, I need to figure out how I’m going to do that.   For instance do I set a ‘required strength’ to be able to lift heavy objects?   So a heavy portcullis might require a 40 strength roll.  So one person would have to get really lucky and have their attempt explode.  Or two characters would have to get reasonably lucky.  Or three characters with just average rolls could raise it up.   Which reminds me, feats of strength  now incur a level of Fatigue.  So you can make a few attempts but then you’re laying exhausted on the ground.  Hopefully you nailed the roll on that last one before you slipped into unconsciousness.

Added Charging and Grapple rules.  Pretty basic and simple, I don’t want to get into complexity with them.  Grapple is very 4E.  You can whack someone grappling you and they can try to hurt you with the grapple.  Forced movement on either grappler or grapplee breaks the grappler.  THe grapplee gets to make one escape attempt using either Strength or Grace and the grappler can try to oppose by one of those.   A success means the grapplee gets free.  With two degrees of success they get to act normally on their round although the escape does count as an action which subjects them to an appropriate MAP.

Charging just grants a bonus to damage to a melee attack at the end of the end of the charge or the charger can make an strength roll to try and shove the target, pushing it one square for each degree of success.

Most mechanics I just want enough complexity to give them an appropriate feel, I don’t want to recreate reality.

Continue reading »]]> A few more changes and additions.  Based on comment I created some ‘hard’ rules on what happens with a critical failure (2 or more 1′s rolled on the skill roll).  They’re not long tables and I ‘think’ they’re easily remembered after a couple of run through’s but who knows.   Each one does end with Director’s Discretion but the premise is when a skill roll ends in a critical failure you start at the top of the appropriate chart and work your way down until you find the first step that is applicable and then you stop there.

As a rule you can’t re-roll Critical Failures with a Rewrite but you can take the “Butter side up!” character knack that allows you to spend Rewrite’s on critical failures.

Decided to rewrite the ending for the sample adventure, not happy with it, it deviates from the theme too much after consideration.

Added a some Character Flaws specifically for power users, a couple of them are really kind of setting specific but general enough they can fit in the general book.   They just make it harder to use an individual power by either penalizing the skill roll or making it cost more power to use, that kind of thing.

I added the ability to ‘push’ your movement for which you suffer a fatigue attack.  A person with a high fortitude and athletics can push more often than someone without it.  But with exploding dice on the fatigue damage it’s always going to be  a risk to try it.  You might get lucky and go many many attempts without a problem and be a poor man’s flash.  Or you might get super unlucky and go from fully rested to unconscious from your efforts.   That risk I think will make for interesting times.  I don’t see players trying to push their movement except if they really need it.  Which is what I was shooting for.

I tightened up the Information and Clues section in the Director’s Chair chapter.  Information comes in three categories, Prime, Secondary and Tertiary, I think it’s what most good GM’s use anyway, I’m just codifying it for my system.

The catagories determine how important the information is and how easily it is obtained.  Prime information is plot forwarding and is obtained simply by being in the Scene.  Characters always get prime information from a scene without any action on their part.   And by information it might not be just information but could instead be an item or something of that nature.

Secondary information is important but typically provides alternatives to an end result or side trips/quests etc. It isn’t so much a storyline forwarder but broadens the storyline.  Secondary information has a trigger.  The players have to do something or say something or otherwise trigger the information dump.  It might as simple as “We search the room.”  or “I talk to the bartender” but to pick up secondary information requires interaction on the player’s part but it’s not random.

Tertiary information is information of minor use.  Perhaps they might provide some detail to a prime clue or grant the players a minor advantage for some reason or allow them to recover or uncover a minor item.   Tertiary information requires skill rolls on the player’s part.  Make the skill roll, gain the information, fail and you don’t gain it.   But because the information isn’t plot critical it’s not a “Failed? Sucks to be you.” situation but rather a ‘Failed? No bread for you!” but the player’s still get the soup.

[Note the preceding was a Soup Nazi reference from Seinfeld.  If you don't know the reference then just youtube it or wikipedia it.]

Critical Failure Tables

Continue reading »]]> Rough draft on how to deal with magic aka non-mundane items.  The idea is to encourage a character’s abilities being about the character, not the amount of loot they’ve garnered.  Aside from Batman few action heroes in movies and novels have an ass load of magical gear that they haul around with them.  I want to keep that feel with this system.

Magical, Powered, Special Items –

Continue reading »]]> A first rough draft of my version of skill challenges.  The two example challenges are off the cuff without a lot of thought but hopefully they’ll give some idea of what I’m shooting for.

Continue reading »]]> Not much to report lately but I’ll offer what I’ve got.  Work has been kicking my ass along with doing things around the house that I just haven’t had the time to do much.

But with that said, I’m going to be adding in a Dodgy Bastard Knack that can be bought by a character.   My thought is to allow them to take a hit on their next turn to increase their Evasion score this turn.  It’ll go something like this for play testing -

Dodgy Bastard – Before an attack is made against you, you may choose to dodge out of the way and gain a +2 Evasion against this one attack and are Off Balance until the start of your next turn. (Off Balance is a standard -2 Evasion penalty)

I’ve cleaned up my States section and currently employ Dazed, Off Balance, Slowed and Immobilized.  Dazed = no actions, Off Balance is the -2 Evasion penalty, Slowed reduces your speed to 2 and Immobilized means you cannot take any actions that require rolls based on Brawn or Grace.   I want to strike a balance between no states and Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition’s ginormous amount of states which while they add verisimilitude are incredibly unwieldy in game play at times.

I also really don’t want any lingering states that have to be kept track of if I can help it.  The most you can be dazed for instance is one turn and that’s if you fail your undazing check.  So fail = lose one turn, succeed = suffer a penalty on this turn, suceed well and get your full turn.   No getting stuck losing actions turn after turn because you rolled crappy and not getting to play.   It’s awesome when a party of players stun locks a boss (or is it? Really?) and they put a beat down on it and it never gets to do anything.  It’s not so awesome when it happens to a player.   And I’m going to fall down on removing not so awesome issues where I can.

The exception is Immobilized from the Crowd Control power which does linger as long as you don’t break free and the power user keeps the power going on you.

In addition to hammering that stuff out I wrote the Animate Object spell which will be used for everything from summoning skeletons to making tables walk to dancing swords.   To counter the potential power of such a thing I think I’ve got it limited in such a fashion that it’s useful but not overshadowing.  Time will tell.

And I’ve created a first draft of a character sheet, I don’t have it with me or I’d post it, it’s blah like all my character sheets are, I design for usability not graphic splendor.  I have trouble reading character sheets filled with backgrounds, stains, rips textured boxes, white text in black boxes, with tiny fonts.   Ergo I don’t do that.

Continue reading »]]> Well started another playtest and decided to adjust the figured numbers (yet again).   This time I munchkined the characters a bit trying for maximum evasion and maximum damage reduction and balanced character and now it looks happier in there in terms of the numbers.

It was going to be a playtest of the power system but the poor bad guys got mulched too quickly.  :)  In the first round the good guys got surprised but one of them had a knack for sensing a trap and wasn’t surprised and got to act normally.  Three of the bad guy melee’ers got killed, two of them by their own side thanks to critical failures on attack rolls, one a super critical (3 1′s on the attack roll).  One of the good guys was one shotted thanks to a huge attack roll and damage roll by a tribesman but used a plot device to rewrite the damage down a bit so he wasn’t killed.

The next round the Stars got to go first and the warrior unloaded two flint locks into the remaining two tribesman hitting and killing them both and the good shaman dropped a massive fire bolt on the bad guy shaman and got enough stunt points to pump up the damage and drive him back 3 squares into a fumarole and knock him into the lava below.   The shaman was a Star as well and would have had his own PD’s but I was out of time and decided to kill him off.   Work is killing me lately.

Combat is certainly fast so far.  Two rounds, 8 combatants and maybe 10 real time minutes and it was over.  And it’s certainly dangerous, the opening round saw 3(4) characters killed, one saved by using the get out of death mechanism in the system.

I really need to come up with character sheets but the changing of the formulae for figured stats just highlights why they’re in flux.

Continue reading »]]> Still working my way through the powers list as time, inclination and energy are in sync.  Added Displell, Teleport, Warding and a handful of others that I forget.

Also tightened up some of the rules and added in some clarifications and expansions on some sections.

I also started on a character sheet in InDesign but as a lot of stuff is still in flux I don’t want to put a lot of time into it, just get a basic sheet for playtesting the character design functions.

I realized that I was treading perilously close to the “Screw the Caster As A Balance Mechanism” mindset at one point.  I was going to charge the power users extra points to use their direct damage power against a second target.  When I realized, WTF, you’re falling right back into the same crap every designer seems to fall back into, dick the casters over so they can’t play the same amount of time as the rest of them.

So now the Direct Damage power does either 2d8 against a single target as a single action or it does 2d6 against 2 targets as two actions for a single power point.  (People seem to feel a need for casters and the like to have ‘some’ resource to manage so I’m putting it in here too)

This puts the wizard or psionicist or whatever on the same damage potential as the projectile weapon users.  One target, one action, no penalty, 2d8.  Two targets, two actions, penalty, 2d6 damage.  Except the power user can’t be disarmed (usually there is Dispel as a power which they can use to interrupt casting and break it on other power users).  To balance the can’t be disarmed issue, the power user has to manage power points.   Now this power costs one point to activate and power users recover 1 point at the start of their turn.  So just like any other projectile user they can shoot things every turn for eternity.

I dislike systems that some character types are balanced by time.  I find it annoying and hard to game master with and it breaks immersion. I dislike when the limited time based resources are balanced by giving that type of character excessive power and then trusting that both the players and game master will create game play so that it makes sense.   But I digress.

I’m also adding in Knacks for the power users that can reduce power costs, give them the ability to re-power by spending Plot Devices or taking damage.  And there’s a Drain power that gives them a shot at pulling power from other power users.

I really need to find the time to playtest some casters.

I’ve got a typical fantasy encounter set up and made some goblins -

Goblins -

Brawn: 1  Intellect 2  Grace 3  Fortitude 1  Resolve 2
Evasion: 15, DR: 5

Skills:  Melee 1, Projectile 2, Stealth 4,

Knacks: Shifty Bastards – Can shift 2 squares as a move.  Reactive Strike: Make an OA once per round when an opponent moves into a threatened square.

Goblin Shaman -
Brawn: 1  Intellect 2  Grace 1  Fortitude 1  Resolve 4
Evasion: 14 DR: 6

Skills: Melee 1, Projectile 1, Stealth 4

Knacks: Power User – DD rock strike,  AOE Shower of Stones, Barrier Earth Wall  Pool: 5 points  Shifty Bastard – Shift two squares instead of 1 as a move action.  Reactive Strike – Make an OA when a target moves into a threatened square.

 

Continue reading »]]> I’m a little torn right now on how to compute Damage Reduction and Evasion and Run Speeds.

I want stats to matter and I don’t want single stat computations.   My original thoughts were DR = (Resolve+Brawn)/2+Fortitude and Evasion was (Intellect+Grace)/2+Melee+10.   But as I’m statting out some creatures to run playtests with I’m ending up with pretty low scores.

So I thought what happens if I add all the values straight?  Well that could get ugly after awhile.  A character could quickly end up, especially with gear, with a DR that’s too high for them to be damaged by normal methods.

One thing that twists the numbers around is that gear or the Shielding power that adds DR has a direct reduction (with minor exceptions based on expenditure of power or personal Knacks). �