Riffing off some recent discussion of death checks in GURPS and how to cut someone's head off with a cutting weapon, I started to think that it would be amusing to map out the kind of damage you need to kill a character.
What's it take to kill someone in GURPS?
Basically, how much raw damage do you need to get a kill?
The Victim: Since all the numbers are linear, I'll just go with a mathematically easy HP 10. No Injury Tolerance, Supernatural Durability, or Unkillable. The victim suffers Death checks at -10 HP, and dies automatically at -50 HP.
I'm also largely disregarding armor, except for the native DR that comes with a very few locations protected by bone. It's worth noting that the locations most easy to kill someone with one shot are also the easiest to armor - Skull, especially, where it's not uncommon to wear 2-3 layers in my games (such as a greathelm or pot helm over a mail coif - if not greathelm over pot helm over coif.)
The Targets:
Here are some prime targets for forcing a kill with a single shot. Limbs and extremities can't do it, because damage is limited to below HP . . . if you want to kill someone with a limb or extremity shot you need to use the bleeding rules. It won't be quick.
Note on Terms: Damage is raw, base damage needed; injury inflicted isn't listed. Damage types are abbreviated cr, cu, imp, pi-, pi, p+, p++ below.
Torso: x1 crushing, x1.5 cutting, x2 impaling, x0.5 to x2 for piercing. Takes 20cr/14 cu/10 imp/40 pi-/20 pi/14 pi+/10 pi++ to force a death check. 60cr/40cu/30imp/120pi-/60pi/40pi+/30pi++ to kill automatically.
Good, solid choice for cutting, impaling, and the larger two piercing attacks. Easy to hit, too.
Vitals: x3 impaling, x3 any piercing, others unaffected or can't target them. Takes 7 damage to force a death check, 20 to kill automatically.
Great choice for either!
Skull: x4 for anything, native DR 2. Takes 7 damage to force a death check (7-2=5, x4), 17 damage to kill automatically.
Great choice for high damage attacks of any kind!
Eye: As skull, but it bypasses the skull DR (and it's very hard to armor the eyes in low-tech environment). Only 5 damage to force a death check, and 15 to kill automatically.
If you can hit them (-9), target them, and as a bonus you'll usually blind the guy in one eye and force some difficult knockdown rolls.
Neck: x1.5 for crushing, x2 for cutting, others same as torso. 14cr/10cu to force a death check, 40cr/30cu to kill automatically.
It's not terribly hard to hit, and it's easy to force death checks with high-damage cutting attacks (aka, most strong warrior's cutting attacks). It's easy to armor, but it's a good happy medium between the torso (easy to hit, easy to armor, needs a lot of damage to kill) and the skull (hard to hit, easy to armor, low damage to kill). It's a great choice if you can't penetrate the nearly-ridiculous skull armor my players put on their character's skulls.
How about some of the GURPS Martial Arts hit locations? Well, most of them are limb or extremity related (joints, nose, ears) or don't speed death (spine), but one does . . .
Veins and Arteries: All the relevant injury multipliers are upped by 0.5, pushing the required damage for a limb or neck down. You can even kill with a limb shot, since you don't get a messy cripple but a messier severed vein/artery. For simplicity, let's say it's just neck we're worried about. Takes 8cu/8imp/20pi-/14pi/10pi+/8pi++ to force a death check, 24cu/24imp/60pi-/40pi/30pi+/24pi++ to kill automatically. Not bad.
Also, at the GM's option Mortal Wounds doesn't apply . . . making it much easier to cause a failure on the death check!
What's the takeaway?
It depends on your weapon, and your opponent's armor, but it's not terribly had to force a death check in GURPS. It's harder but not unreasonably so (thanks to high damage rolls and the occasional 2x or 3x damage critical hit) for even a relatively normal strength guy to cause automatic death to an opponent.
For a cutting weapon, you only need 7 damage to penetrate an unarmored skull and force a death check, and only 10 to the neck or 14 to the torso. Skull is a good option if you can hit it, neck is very solid.
For a crushing weapon, think skull or neck if you can hit them - you only need 17 damage to kill a normal, unarmored guy outright automatically. A ST 14 guy with a mace and All-Out Attack (Strong) can do that with maximum damage, and even minimum damage will force a death check!
For impaling, vitals or eyes. Damage needed is really low for eyes, and not high for vitals.
For piercing, it's vitals or eyes, especially if you're using armor-piercing weaponry . . . slam through that DR and do x3 or x4.
So yeah, it doesn't take much to push someone to death checks in GURPS. Good think for the players it's not so easy to fail the checks.
My DF Game
The characters in my DF game have different approaches.
-Vryce generally goes for the torso, and aims for multiple hits. It's easy to hit, allowing him to leverage his very high skill and damage into a strong Deceptive Attack with no "wasted" damage.
- Honus tends to go for the body, to ensure a hit and no wasted damage. Chuck does the same.
- Raggi has a Trademark Move aimed at the Neck, and cares only about forcing death checks. He's also a user of the Great Cleave (DF11) and needs to ensure knockdown when aiming for a multi-foe hit, and Neck is a good way to do that with a cutting weapon thanks to the x2.
- Borriz smashes everything twice in the skull, turning his 2d+8 or +9 into a x4 multiplier and a fair amount of automatic kills.
- Galen shoots everything in the vitals, if they have them, and every once in a while in the eye if they don't.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Interesting wargaming article in the WP
I saw this on my Google+ feed, I think from Jeffro Johnson.
It's a really interesting article looking at the designer of wargames such as A Distant Plain and The Labyrinth. If I had a regular wargaming group, I'd get these. The games look outstandingly interesting. They'd probably make great learning tools in a political science course, too.
In the world of war games, Volko Ruhnke has become a hero
Really interesting stuff, and the games look like a lot of fun. I'll keep an eye out for a chance to play them.
It's a really interesting article looking at the designer of wargames such as A Distant Plain and The Labyrinth. If I had a regular wargaming group, I'd get these. The games look outstandingly interesting. They'd probably make great learning tools in a political science course, too.
In the world of war games, Volko Ruhnke has become a hero
Really interesting stuff, and the games look like a lot of fun. I'll keep an eye out for a chance to play them.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
On playing S&W and GURPS
So Doug posted about his experience playing an avowed OSR system. It's my fault, really, because I encouraged Doug to join the game.
To be honest, I dragged Doug into Erik's S&W game purely because he and I never get to play together and I knew he might be able to make the game sessions. I have very limited free time when people normally run games (I work nights and weekends, and run my game on the free weekends I have), as well, but this monthly game fit perfectly. It wasn't an attempt to turn him on to OSR gaming so much as "Erik is a good GM and the guys are cool and the game is fun." I suggested to another person to join, too, for the same reason - if you get in, I'm in and we can play games together just like we normally can't.
I play both S&W and GURPS, which would seem like an "old school" versus "new school" divide. Player skill vs. character abilities. "I check for poison needles" vs. "I roll Per-based Traps." You know, the great divide between Good and Evil, to hear some tell it.
I'll tell you it's not all of that. Or any of that.
Swords & Wizardry
Part of what I like about Swords & Wizardry is just that I'm getting to play. The game I played in before this was GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game that ran a couple of sessions. I enjoyed playing in Vlaclav Tofl's GURPS Gladiators game, too, although I only managed to play once. I like to play, and I'm much less picky about systems that I play even if I am very picky about games I run.
It helps immensely that the S&W game has a great group of players and an excellent GM. Erik Tenkar has his finger on exactly what the game needs to be fast and fun. The other players are all guys I've been immediately comfortable playing with. It's really fun and I've made new friends out of it, too.
It's not the ruleset I enjoy, although a rules-light ruleset makes it possible for me to play without investing a lot of time. Pathfinder seems extremely cool, but I'd have to learn a lot and read a lot to play in it, and I don't have that kind of time, not if I intend to keep working, training, blogging, studying, etc. at the pace I'm doing now and spending time with my family, too. But it's not the rules. If Erik ran Basic D&D, White Box D&D, Holmes D&D, Basic Fantasy, AD&D, whatever - it would be fine. I'd be in.
I do like the rules, though, and they're easy to follow and seem self-consistent (especially with a good GM.)
I turn off the part of my brain that wants to argue that even 3 pound swords in GURPS is a bit of a heavy weapon, nevermind 10 pounds in S&W. Or that 1 minute rounds are really long (my first and second MMA matches combined went about 2 minutes, and we both got in a lot of attacks). Or that whole thing with armor making me hard to hit not harder to injure. Because none of that matters because they don't get in the way of the fun parts of the session.
But then I turn around and run GURPS.
GURPS
A couple days after my last S&W session I ran my GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game. For my group, it's a very light game, with a lot of fudging of stuff that doesn't directly involve whacking things and a lot of stuff that does. Unlike the S&W game, exactly where you are standing matters. Turn to turn decisions can change the battlefield. Armor sucks up damage and skill prevents hits. Death spiral mechanics ensure getting hurt is bad, bad, bad.
And it's also fun. We had five of our eight players and I'd have loved to have more of the guys make the session. We fret over details like the weapons you have out, the spacing in the movement order, and the exact range of light sources.
It's the same theme of the game (kill the monsters, take the stuff) with different dice and very different dial settings when it comes to detail. Even a fairly light version of GURPS, with my group, is pretty damn detailed compared to the S&W game.
But I deeply enjoy both. I may not ever run S&W (it's doubtful, I love to run GURPS) but I'll cheerfully play in it.
To me it's the classic steak-or-sushi thing. I don't bemoan my steak for not being sushi, or my sushi for not being steak. They're both enjoyable for what they are. I don't worry if your GURPS or your S&W is different than mine, either.
There are games I have little interest in playing, as well, but there are foods I don't like, either. I try to stay out of those games (it's easy) or discussing them (generally easy) because my criticisms aren't relevant. I play the games that interest me, and I enjoy each of them for what they are.
To be honest, I dragged Doug into Erik's S&W game purely because he and I never get to play together and I knew he might be able to make the game sessions. I have very limited free time when people normally run games (I work nights and weekends, and run my game on the free weekends I have), as well, but this monthly game fit perfectly. It wasn't an attempt to turn him on to OSR gaming so much as "Erik is a good GM and the guys are cool and the game is fun." I suggested to another person to join, too, for the same reason - if you get in, I'm in and we can play games together just like we normally can't.
I play both S&W and GURPS, which would seem like an "old school" versus "new school" divide. Player skill vs. character abilities. "I check for poison needles" vs. "I roll Per-based Traps." You know, the great divide between Good and Evil, to hear some tell it.
I'll tell you it's not all of that. Or any of that.
Swords & Wizardry
Part of what I like about Swords & Wizardry is just that I'm getting to play. The game I played in before this was GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game that ran a couple of sessions. I enjoyed playing in Vlaclav Tofl's GURPS Gladiators game, too, although I only managed to play once. I like to play, and I'm much less picky about systems that I play even if I am very picky about games I run.
It helps immensely that the S&W game has a great group of players and an excellent GM. Erik Tenkar has his finger on exactly what the game needs to be fast and fun. The other players are all guys I've been immediately comfortable playing with. It's really fun and I've made new friends out of it, too.
It's not the ruleset I enjoy, although a rules-light ruleset makes it possible for me to play without investing a lot of time. Pathfinder seems extremely cool, but I'd have to learn a lot and read a lot to play in it, and I don't have that kind of time, not if I intend to keep working, training, blogging, studying, etc. at the pace I'm doing now and spending time with my family, too. But it's not the rules. If Erik ran Basic D&D, White Box D&D, Holmes D&D, Basic Fantasy, AD&D, whatever - it would be fine. I'd be in.
I do like the rules, though, and they're easy to follow and seem self-consistent (especially with a good GM.)
I turn off the part of my brain that wants to argue that even 3 pound swords in GURPS is a bit of a heavy weapon, nevermind 10 pounds in S&W. Or that 1 minute rounds are really long (my first and second MMA matches combined went about 2 minutes, and we both got in a lot of attacks). Or that whole thing with armor making me hard to hit not harder to injure. Because none of that matters because they don't get in the way of the fun parts of the session.
But then I turn around and run GURPS.
GURPS
A couple days after my last S&W session I ran my GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game. For my group, it's a very light game, with a lot of fudging of stuff that doesn't directly involve whacking things and a lot of stuff that does. Unlike the S&W game, exactly where you are standing matters. Turn to turn decisions can change the battlefield. Armor sucks up damage and skill prevents hits. Death spiral mechanics ensure getting hurt is bad, bad, bad.
And it's also fun. We had five of our eight players and I'd have loved to have more of the guys make the session. We fret over details like the weapons you have out, the spacing in the movement order, and the exact range of light sources.
It's the same theme of the game (kill the monsters, take the stuff) with different dice and very different dial settings when it comes to detail. Even a fairly light version of GURPS, with my group, is pretty damn detailed compared to the S&W game.
But I deeply enjoy both. I may not ever run S&W (it's doubtful, I love to run GURPS) but I'll cheerfully play in it.
To me it's the classic steak-or-sushi thing. I don't bemoan my steak for not being sushi, or my sushi for not being steak. They're both enjoyable for what they are. I don't worry if your GURPS or your S&W is different than mine, either.
There are games I have little interest in playing, as well, but there are foods I don't like, either. I try to stay out of those games (it's easy) or discussing them (generally easy) because my criticisms aren't relevant. I play the games that interest me, and I enjoy each of them for what they are.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Two DF Action Photos
I found this snapshot of the golem fight from Session 38.
At the point of the picture, the golems are just starting to pile in while their (hidden) master maneuvers to cast spells. The inverted bottlecaps are Flaming Skulls. You can see Father Hans's mini off to the side of the battlefield, as he's represented with a corpse counter while he's unconscious so he doesn't block placement of the minis.
Two of those golems are Flesh Golem Bones, since I got dupes in my original Bones shipment. Three are two Clay Golem Bones, one a metal of the same mini. Finally, one is a cheap plastic toy from China that I slopped with paint to get a sixth flesh golem on the field.
And this is the gemstone zombie fight from yesterday's session, session 40.
At this point, the zombies are just in their weird chamber, waiting. The PCs haven't formed up, they're still outside the J-hook descending tunnel (upper right in the picture) discussing their options.
At the point of the picture, the golems are just starting to pile in while their (hidden) master maneuvers to cast spells. The inverted bottlecaps are Flaming Skulls. You can see Father Hans's mini off to the side of the battlefield, as he's represented with a corpse counter while he's unconscious so he doesn't block placement of the minis.
Two of those golems are Flesh Golem Bones, since I got dupes in my original Bones shipment. Three are two Clay Golem Bones, one a metal of the same mini. Finally, one is a cheap plastic toy from China that I slopped with paint to get a sixth flesh golem on the field.
And this is the gemstone zombie fight from yesterday's session, session 40.
At this point, the zombies are just in their weird chamber, waiting. The PCs haven't formed up, they're still outside the J-hook descending tunnel (upper right in the picture) discussing their options.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
DF Game Session 40, Felltower 31 - Heads & Head-Gems
February 9th, 2014
Weather: Cold, heavy accumulated snow and ice, later snow.
Characters: (approximate net point total)
Dryst, halfling wizard (325 points)
Galen Longtread, human scout (327 points)
Galoob Jah, goblin thief (256 points)
Honus Honusson, human barbarian (302 points)
Red Raggi, human berserker (?? points, NPC)
Vryce, human knight (401 points)
6 human halberdiers, (various points, NPC)
Jon "Bort" Blackbart, human swordsman (?? points, NPC)
Still in town:
Borriz, dwarven knight (308 points)
Christoph, human scout (258 points)
Chuck Morris, human martial artist (303 points)
We started the session, as usual, in Stericksburg. The group gathered rumors, bought some gear (mostly healing potions and strength potions), and headed out. They heard rumors, including a few thematically good ones. They heard about treasure under a statue near a big staircase (or under a staircase near a big statue, one of those), two about dragons (see below), one about how pink slimes reproduce (by converting you into textured meat product too), and how there is a giant staircase so deep you can't see the bottom . . . or even reach the bottom.
So apparently, dwarves hate dragons because they steal dwarven gold . . . and dragons are magical creatures who are the living embodiment of greed ("Hey, like us - we must be dragons" - paraphrasing a bit). Interesting, if true.
The group hired on some hirelings for this trip. They wanted some quality halberdiers to come with them, not the usual bargain henchmen. I countered with a company - a sergeant and his five fellow halberdiers. They weren't all 125-point guys, but they weren't all 62s, either, and they offered to come for 240 sp for all six for a one-day trip. The PCs took them. Jon "Bort" Blackbart came too, as a volunteer.
The PCs headed out to Felltower, but the ice and snow made it hard going and they took until mid afternoon to get up their. After a rest and some scouting, they moved into the castle. The orcs had fortified it further. They put up a stronger gate on the fallen section, and mostly blocked the main gate with a wagon loaded with fallen timber and broken stones. Then, they'd iced the walls down with water and iced over their barricades, too, making them both slick and solid. The PCs were allowed in after their bribe, but no one wanted to take an orc with them. They headed down the well, which took a lot of digging by some servants and then a bit by Raggi and Honus. Some thoughts about the coming need to exterminate the orcs came up. They've certainly been spending the winter expanding their control in the dungeon and their control of the surface.
They headed down, moving directly for the curved metal "airlock" door where they first fought the Lord of Spite. They set up to fight him, putting in earplugs made of cotton ($2/pair, unknown actual value) and banging on the door with their battering ram and trying to activate the six-fingered hand panel with a servant and with the thumb from a six-fingered guy. They are really regretting selling their possibly-living six-fingered body to the orcs.
As they banged away, orcs approached from the old hobgoblin-controlled area, and tried to dissuade them from banging on the door. Honus pointed out that you know you're crazy when the dungeon monsters come to tell you to stop what you're doing. They live in a tunnel complex full of traps and monsters and think trying to get the Lord of Spite to come up was a terrible idea. Channeling George Thurogood we joked the orcs would tell them that "wife kind of funny, she said you can't come in dungeon any more, you know how it is" as an excuse to keep them out.
He didn't show, possibly out of spite, they figured, which just goes to show he's really well named.
They took the opportunity to check a nearby area to ensure their map was correct and that their wasn't any secret room they'd missed. A Seek Earth spell on gold revealed some downward, so since Borriz and Chuck hadn't made it, they decided to skip trying to smash the draugr and instead to head down a level.
They bashed a couple doors - one to pieces with the ram, another pried open with a crowbar. The orcs were pretty seriously blocked easy passage into their new area. They didn't have patrols or guards, probably out of fear of the noise the party was making attracting the Lord of Spite.
The group made it down to the next level, passing up the six-fingered statue on the landing and quickly heading to the trapped secret door. It blasted down a pair of servants who touched it, and Identify Spell showed it to be a 6d deathtouch. So they moved on, and then bashed down the newly contructed wall they found on a previous trip.
Beyond that wall was a hallway and a room. In the room was a statue of a beatiful nude woman, arms outstretched and mouth open just right, head tilted back. Galoob, lecherous goblin that he was, ran up to "investigate" and do a careful hands-on search. He did, and as he grabbed the statue by its breasts, it began to sing, letting out a low, bell-clear moaning note. Immediately a wave of ecstasy washed over them. Most of the NPCs succumbed, but all of the PCs resisted. Honus stepped up and smashed the statue's head off with a massive swing of the Flail of the Gales, taking its head off. Galoob moaned in despair, but the song stopped and the head shattered. A hissing noise revealed a hidden vent was pumping in some kind of gas. The group pulled back out, dragging noodle-limp allies with them. Honus then went back in (he's huge, he's heavily poison resistant, and he's got a solid HT score) and found the gas was poisonous but also low-lying. He hoisted Dryst up and brought him in to magically investigate. They found the vent for the poison, but also found their was a heart-shaped red stone in the statue's head. They took it.
Next up was the chain-sealed room with the blast-shadow on the wall. Long story short, the group set up with a servant in front, two squads to either side, and after Galoob unlocked the door's locked, they looped rope on and had Bort pull it open.
Out charged a loose formation of little green-grey big-eared shark-toothed guys with big knives, all laughing and cheering and giggling like dementedly happy children. Doomchildren, represented by Pathfinder Goblin pre-paints. Immediately realizing what knife-armed mini demons could mean ("Stygian Dolls"), the PCs tried to engage them at a distance with Wait and long reach and arrows. They did to a degree, shooting up some as they charged, triggered explosions as the fragile little demons exploded after a single solid hit (especially since the least damage anyone was doing usually put them well past -1xHP). The doomchildren got in amongst the group, though, as after the initial wave more came, first in small groups and then one by one. The explosions hurt several of the halberdiers badly, wounded Honus and even bothered Vryce when fratricidal explosions set off one that had closed with a foot of him, and set a couple people on fire. Raggi even grabbed one and ran away from the halberdiers to shield them, only to have the little demon chop him in the leg and drop him, crippled! Raggi went berserk. Galen kept shooting down the doomchildren, though, and after the ones that had been closed in had all been detonated before they could kill anyone with direct attacks, he was able to systematically keep back the steady reinforcements that showed up.
They group got everyone safely extinguished (with magic and Galoob patting one guy down), healed Raggi after he calmed down, and then advanced into the room. At the far end of the room beyond they found a statue of a "man" with four legs ending in stumps surrounded by a fringe of snakes, four arms ending in six-fingered claws, and topped with the head of a pretty young boy. It would bring two of its arms together and then apart, and a doomchild would appear in mid-air and drop down, ready to fight. More charged, and a short brawl took out the doomchildren. Great Haste on Vryce let him run the length of the room and hack the arms off the statue, stopping it from summoning more. After some debate, they let Honus chisel the head off the statue, and realized it was a head to one of the busts up on a level above. They put it in a pack after using Ancient History to determine it had been installed on the statue body by the cone-hatted cultists a long, long time ago.
Next up the group investigate the hydra's lair again, to ensure nothing else had moved in. Nothing had. They moved on past its area, and found a bizarre corridor and room.
First, a corridor led off in a long, smooth J-shape, 30 degrees down, with slick (but not ice-slick) floors. A servant went down, falling all the time, and told them a metal door awaited. So Dyst walked down with Walk on Air and Galoob just did so with his 16 DX, and they checked it out. A locked door with recessed hinges was there. Galoob checked for traps and found none, then popped the door open with ease.
Beyond it was a big trapezoidal room, 70' on a side, with the door at the end of one side near a point. Near each wall stood 5 "zombies" with a green gemstone in each of their foreheads, armed with clubs or bent cleaver-like blades. Tempted by the loot, they decided to go for it. So they went back (and the door closed itself), and used Create Object to make enough rope to climb up the slope without issues. They left the NPCs behind to guard the rear and hold the rope, and then went down. Vryce used a Blur spellstone, Galoob popped the lock (it took a while, this time), and then Dryst Great Hasted Vryce. They went in. What followed with a relatively one-sided fight. This was mostly because the players decided instantly that they either needed to decapitate the zombies to take them out, or destroy the green gems. They tried both. Vryce determined his undead-slaying tassel sword wasn't helping against these oddly non-undead undead, and sheathed it and went with his normal sword. He chopped off a head, and chopped through one gemstone to put one down. Raggi went to chop heads. Galen (after an amusing 18) recovered his bow and then started shooting gemstones (at -8 to hit). They found that if they fully sawed off a head, though massive damage, the zombies wouldn't get back up. Any solid damage to a gemstone also killed the zombies; well, the least done was 9 by Galen, so maybe "any" damage is a bit generous.
While the fight raged Galoob held the door to keep it from locking shut on everyone. Raggi suffered some damage when he ran in using All-Out Attack, and Honus was grabbed and held by a zombie and was unable to score a break free, but allies with ridiculous skill were handy to take out zombies with a hold or a threatening position. In short order 9 had their gems destroyed, and 11 were decapitated. It was in this fight someone pointed out the whole session was about heads, and heads with gems in them, and magic heads in general. It would have been more so if the hydra had been dealt with this time, too!
The PCs pried out the stones (which turned out to be magical within the room, not later once removed), and headed back to town.
The next score, after sending Galoob to find some especially interested parties for that very useful ecstasy stone willing to pay 10,000 sp, was 2200 sp each after giving some to the NPCs.
MVP was Galen, for turning what could have been a horrid slog through exploding Doomchildren into two rushes and a series of distant "boom" noises.
Notes:
We expected Borriz and Chuck today, but neither showed, which was odd. It's rare to have no-shows after they say they can make it. No worries, but it was odd. Because of this, the plans changed - the plan was, lure the Lord of Spite out and kick his butt, and if not, go for the Draugr.
Fully 50% of the group today lived and worked in Japan at some point (the GM, Honus-san's player, and Galoob-kun's player), which is kind of interesting. I think we were northern, central, and southern Japan, too, ranging from me in Niigata all the way down to Galoob's player Kyushu. Counting visits to Japan, maybe only one of the players hadn't been. Just an odd travel note.
Plans to deal with the draugr continue. At this point, the concern is generating enough firepower to kill them and being able to minimize the effect of their high-damage strikes and reduce the odds and effects of the inevitable critical hits. Still, 33 of the guys dealing above 4d damage with real tactical intelligence in their reactions means it won't be easy no matter how loaded for bear the PCs come. Blur spellstones all around seems to be part of the thinking, though. Probably worth it - the druagr are loaded, and spending a few thousand to get extra boost to fight them makes total economic sense.
The NPCs got a 30-odd sp bonus from each player, working out to a nice little bonus for all and enough to make Bort happy he came (although not delighted, obviously). Raggi also took them all out drinking, because he has money to burn. So he says - the running joke is that either Raggi drinks all of his wealth between sessions, or that he says that but he's going to suddenly announce he has been saving it in a diversified portfolio of investments and settle down.
Dryst was thinking of keeping that stone. 3x a day, for free, 6 area, on ecstasy . . . not bad as a weapon. But it was specially 6 area, no exclusions, user too. Better for "those kind of parties" than for fighting, and worth a lot!
I usually don't reveal these kinds of things, but yes, had the gemstones not been destroyed or zombies decapitated, they'd have kept coming. There were other tricks but the PCs didn't fall for any of it.
Also, we did some grappling using bits of Technical Grappling. I like CP a lot better than binary on/off grapples. More people need better Wrestling, though. Only Raggi and Vryce had enough Wrestling to really take advantage.
Good session, lots of fun. Had the Lord of Spite come out (I rolled, and while I won't say what I rolled I will say it meant he wasn't going to come up and out) it would have been a very different but equally amusing session. It's still an open question, will earplugs help against his shout? How tough is he, really? We'll find out another time . . .
Weather: Cold, heavy accumulated snow and ice, later snow.
Characters: (approximate net point total)
Dryst, halfling wizard (325 points)
Galen Longtread, human scout (327 points)
Galoob Jah, goblin thief (256 points)
Honus Honusson, human barbarian (302 points)
Red Raggi, human berserker (?? points, NPC)
Vryce, human knight (401 points)
6 human halberdiers, (various points, NPC)
Jon "Bort" Blackbart, human swordsman (?? points, NPC)
Still in town:
Borriz, dwarven knight (308 points)
Christoph, human scout (258 points)
Chuck Morris, human martial artist (303 points)
We started the session, as usual, in Stericksburg. The group gathered rumors, bought some gear (mostly healing potions and strength potions), and headed out. They heard rumors, including a few thematically good ones. They heard about treasure under a statue near a big staircase (or under a staircase near a big statue, one of those), two about dragons (see below), one about how pink slimes reproduce (by converting you into textured meat product too), and how there is a giant staircase so deep you can't see the bottom . . . or even reach the bottom.
So apparently, dwarves hate dragons because they steal dwarven gold . . . and dragons are magical creatures who are the living embodiment of greed ("Hey, like us - we must be dragons" - paraphrasing a bit). Interesting, if true.
The group hired on some hirelings for this trip. They wanted some quality halberdiers to come with them, not the usual bargain henchmen. I countered with a company - a sergeant and his five fellow halberdiers. They weren't all 125-point guys, but they weren't all 62s, either, and they offered to come for 240 sp for all six for a one-day trip. The PCs took them. Jon "Bort" Blackbart came too, as a volunteer.
The PCs headed out to Felltower, but the ice and snow made it hard going and they took until mid afternoon to get up their. After a rest and some scouting, they moved into the castle. The orcs had fortified it further. They put up a stronger gate on the fallen section, and mostly blocked the main gate with a wagon loaded with fallen timber and broken stones. Then, they'd iced the walls down with water and iced over their barricades, too, making them both slick and solid. The PCs were allowed in after their bribe, but no one wanted to take an orc with them. They headed down the well, which took a lot of digging by some servants and then a bit by Raggi and Honus. Some thoughts about the coming need to exterminate the orcs came up. They've certainly been spending the winter expanding their control in the dungeon and their control of the surface.
They headed down, moving directly for the curved metal "airlock" door where they first fought the Lord of Spite. They set up to fight him, putting in earplugs made of cotton ($2/pair, unknown actual value) and banging on the door with their battering ram and trying to activate the six-fingered hand panel with a servant and with the thumb from a six-fingered guy. They are really regretting selling their possibly-living six-fingered body to the orcs.
As they banged away, orcs approached from the old hobgoblin-controlled area, and tried to dissuade them from banging on the door. Honus pointed out that you know you're crazy when the dungeon monsters come to tell you to stop what you're doing. They live in a tunnel complex full of traps and monsters and think trying to get the Lord of Spite to come up was a terrible idea. Channeling George Thurogood we joked the orcs would tell them that "wife kind of funny, she said you can't come in dungeon any more, you know how it is" as an excuse to keep them out.
He didn't show, possibly out of spite, they figured, which just goes to show he's really well named.
They took the opportunity to check a nearby area to ensure their map was correct and that their wasn't any secret room they'd missed. A Seek Earth spell on gold revealed some downward, so since Borriz and Chuck hadn't made it, they decided to skip trying to smash the draugr and instead to head down a level.
They bashed a couple doors - one to pieces with the ram, another pried open with a crowbar. The orcs were pretty seriously blocked easy passage into their new area. They didn't have patrols or guards, probably out of fear of the noise the party was making attracting the Lord of Spite.
The group made it down to the next level, passing up the six-fingered statue on the landing and quickly heading to the trapped secret door. It blasted down a pair of servants who touched it, and Identify Spell showed it to be a 6d deathtouch. So they moved on, and then bashed down the newly contructed wall they found on a previous trip.
Beyond that wall was a hallway and a room. In the room was a statue of a beatiful nude woman, arms outstretched and mouth open just right, head tilted back. Galoob, lecherous goblin that he was, ran up to "investigate" and do a careful hands-on search. He did, and as he grabbed the statue by its breasts, it began to sing, letting out a low, bell-clear moaning note. Immediately a wave of ecstasy washed over them. Most of the NPCs succumbed, but all of the PCs resisted. Honus stepped up and smashed the statue's head off with a massive swing of the Flail of the Gales, taking its head off. Galoob moaned in despair, but the song stopped and the head shattered. A hissing noise revealed a hidden vent was pumping in some kind of gas. The group pulled back out, dragging noodle-limp allies with them. Honus then went back in (he's huge, he's heavily poison resistant, and he's got a solid HT score) and found the gas was poisonous but also low-lying. He hoisted Dryst up and brought him in to magically investigate. They found the vent for the poison, but also found their was a heart-shaped red stone in the statue's head. They took it.
Next up was the chain-sealed room with the blast-shadow on the wall. Long story short, the group set up with a servant in front, two squads to either side, and after Galoob unlocked the door's locked, they looped rope on and had Bort pull it open.
Out charged a loose formation of little green-grey big-eared shark-toothed guys with big knives, all laughing and cheering and giggling like dementedly happy children. Doomchildren, represented by Pathfinder Goblin pre-paints. Immediately realizing what knife-armed mini demons could mean ("Stygian Dolls"), the PCs tried to engage them at a distance with Wait and long reach and arrows. They did to a degree, shooting up some as they charged, triggered explosions as the fragile little demons exploded after a single solid hit (especially since the least damage anyone was doing usually put them well past -1xHP). The doomchildren got in amongst the group, though, as after the initial wave more came, first in small groups and then one by one. The explosions hurt several of the halberdiers badly, wounded Honus and even bothered Vryce when fratricidal explosions set off one that had closed with a foot of him, and set a couple people on fire. Raggi even grabbed one and ran away from the halberdiers to shield them, only to have the little demon chop him in the leg and drop him, crippled! Raggi went berserk. Galen kept shooting down the doomchildren, though, and after the ones that had been closed in had all been detonated before they could kill anyone with direct attacks, he was able to systematically keep back the steady reinforcements that showed up.
They group got everyone safely extinguished (with magic and Galoob patting one guy down), healed Raggi after he calmed down, and then advanced into the room. At the far end of the room beyond they found a statue of a "man" with four legs ending in stumps surrounded by a fringe of snakes, four arms ending in six-fingered claws, and topped with the head of a pretty young boy. It would bring two of its arms together and then apart, and a doomchild would appear in mid-air and drop down, ready to fight. More charged, and a short brawl took out the doomchildren. Great Haste on Vryce let him run the length of the room and hack the arms off the statue, stopping it from summoning more. After some debate, they let Honus chisel the head off the statue, and realized it was a head to one of the busts up on a level above. They put it in a pack after using Ancient History to determine it had been installed on the statue body by the cone-hatted cultists a long, long time ago.
Next up the group investigate the hydra's lair again, to ensure nothing else had moved in. Nothing had. They moved on past its area, and found a bizarre corridor and room.
First, a corridor led off in a long, smooth J-shape, 30 degrees down, with slick (but not ice-slick) floors. A servant went down, falling all the time, and told them a metal door awaited. So Dyst walked down with Walk on Air and Galoob just did so with his 16 DX, and they checked it out. A locked door with recessed hinges was there. Galoob checked for traps and found none, then popped the door open with ease.
Beyond it was a big trapezoidal room, 70' on a side, with the door at the end of one side near a point. Near each wall stood 5 "zombies" with a green gemstone in each of their foreheads, armed with clubs or bent cleaver-like blades. Tempted by the loot, they decided to go for it. So they went back (and the door closed itself), and used Create Object to make enough rope to climb up the slope without issues. They left the NPCs behind to guard the rear and hold the rope, and then went down. Vryce used a Blur spellstone, Galoob popped the lock (it took a while, this time), and then Dryst Great Hasted Vryce. They went in. What followed with a relatively one-sided fight. This was mostly because the players decided instantly that they either needed to decapitate the zombies to take them out, or destroy the green gems. They tried both. Vryce determined his undead-slaying tassel sword wasn't helping against these oddly non-undead undead, and sheathed it and went with his normal sword. He chopped off a head, and chopped through one gemstone to put one down. Raggi went to chop heads. Galen (after an amusing 18) recovered his bow and then started shooting gemstones (at -8 to hit). They found that if they fully sawed off a head, though massive damage, the zombies wouldn't get back up. Any solid damage to a gemstone also killed the zombies; well, the least done was 9 by Galen, so maybe "any" damage is a bit generous.
While the fight raged Galoob held the door to keep it from locking shut on everyone. Raggi suffered some damage when he ran in using All-Out Attack, and Honus was grabbed and held by a zombie and was unable to score a break free, but allies with ridiculous skill were handy to take out zombies with a hold or a threatening position. In short order 9 had their gems destroyed, and 11 were decapitated. It was in this fight someone pointed out the whole session was about heads, and heads with gems in them, and magic heads in general. It would have been more so if the hydra had been dealt with this time, too!
The PCs pried out the stones (which turned out to be magical within the room, not later once removed), and headed back to town.
The next score, after sending Galoob to find some especially interested parties for that very useful ecstasy stone willing to pay 10,000 sp, was 2200 sp each after giving some to the NPCs.
MVP was Galen, for turning what could have been a horrid slog through exploding Doomchildren into two rushes and a series of distant "boom" noises.
Notes:
We expected Borriz and Chuck today, but neither showed, which was odd. It's rare to have no-shows after they say they can make it. No worries, but it was odd. Because of this, the plans changed - the plan was, lure the Lord of Spite out and kick his butt, and if not, go for the Draugr.
Fully 50% of the group today lived and worked in Japan at some point (the GM, Honus-san's player, and Galoob-kun's player), which is kind of interesting. I think we were northern, central, and southern Japan, too, ranging from me in Niigata all the way down to Galoob's player Kyushu. Counting visits to Japan, maybe only one of the players hadn't been. Just an odd travel note.
Plans to deal with the draugr continue. At this point, the concern is generating enough firepower to kill them and being able to minimize the effect of their high-damage strikes and reduce the odds and effects of the inevitable critical hits. Still, 33 of the guys dealing above 4d damage with real tactical intelligence in their reactions means it won't be easy no matter how loaded for bear the PCs come. Blur spellstones all around seems to be part of the thinking, though. Probably worth it - the druagr are loaded, and spending a few thousand to get extra boost to fight them makes total economic sense.
The NPCs got a 30-odd sp bonus from each player, working out to a nice little bonus for all and enough to make Bort happy he came (although not delighted, obviously). Raggi also took them all out drinking, because he has money to burn. So he says - the running joke is that either Raggi drinks all of his wealth between sessions, or that he says that but he's going to suddenly announce he has been saving it in a diversified portfolio of investments and settle down.
Dryst was thinking of keeping that stone. 3x a day, for free, 6 area, on ecstasy . . . not bad as a weapon. But it was specially 6 area, no exclusions, user too. Better for "those kind of parties" than for fighting, and worth a lot!
I usually don't reveal these kinds of things, but yes, had the gemstones not been destroyed or zombies decapitated, they'd have kept coming. There were other tricks but the PCs didn't fall for any of it.
Also, we did some grappling using bits of Technical Grappling. I like CP a lot better than binary on/off grapples. More people need better Wrestling, though. Only Raggi and Vryce had enough Wrestling to really take advantage.
Good session, lots of fun. Had the Lord of Spite come out (I rolled, and while I won't say what I rolled I will say it meant he wasn't going to come up and out) it would have been a very different but equally amusing session. It's still an open question, will earplugs help against his shout? How tough is he, really? We'll find out another time . . .
Useful GURPS Resource - Fillable Monster Cards
John Morrison posted these over on Google+. But for people who read this and not that, here is a link to his set of fillable PDF monster cards.
I don't use these yet, because I've long gotten used to using scratch paper and document files written up in the SJG official writing format. But they're very cool, and for people who prefer a better organizational method than mine it's a good tool.
Playing Card Sized
Index Card Sized
I don't use these yet, because I've long gotten used to using scratch paper and document files written up in the SJG official writing format. But they're very cool, and for people who prefer a better organizational method than mine it's a good tool.
Playing Card Sized
Index Card Sized
Saturday, February 8, 2014
S&W in the Southern Reaches: Session 3 - Clerics in the Dark
Friday night was the third session of the Southern Reaches B-Team. We spent a fair amount of time just chatting before we got underway, not the least of which is characters had to be scrounged up, rules to be remembered, and because we hadn't gamed since 12/22 so there was the inevitable chattiness that comes with intermittent play. I expect much the same in tomorrow's DF game, as well.
PCs
Mirado the Bloody, Human Fighter (lvl 2) (me)
Irban - Half-Elf M-U/Thief (lvl 2/2?) (Jason)
Rul Scararm, Human Fighter (lvl 1) (Douglas Cole)
Starlander Bek, Elf M-U (level 4?) (Joe D)
All of our characters awoke with a dream of a skeletal armor crushing a village, and trampling the sign reading "Aberton" underfoot. Being adventurers, we totally failed to realize that "Keep Out" doesn't mean "Free Money and Beer" and decided to investigate. Eddie Murphy's comment about Amityville came to mind. A vision of a glowing magical sword didn't hurt - although Mirado immediately realized that we'd be tracking it down for Rul, whose total lack of a magical sword is a shame to one and all.
It was a few days' ride to Aberton, so Mirado sprang for horses for everyone because he has more cash than things to spend it on. Mirado's horse is named Melyngrab.
We rode to the town, and found it was marked up as a plague center. So we bravely decided to follow a trail we found nearby and avoid the town completely. Along the trail we found a zombie caught in brambles - and shot it to death with arrows. It had been dead a long time, long enough for its clothes to rot.
We followed a rough trail to a collapsed mine. We checked around to avoid getting jumped from behind - and were attacked by skeletons who rose from the dirt to attack us. They didn't last.
Once they dropped, we dug. Mirado pitched even after claiming fighters should supervise, and clunked himself with falling rocks for 2 HP damage. Sigh. The stench of death from inside was strong, but only Irban was affected.
We pushed inside, and found a bunch of zombies in tattered uniforms (from a nearby monastery.) We put them down pretty quickly, and moved further into the dungeon, keeping to the left mostly because it seemed most likely to secure our rear than going right would.
Next up was a bigger room, with a plate-armored skeleton with a glowing sword, and some glowing spots on the ground that inevitably sprouted more skeletons. We fought, and some web spells (lit up by Starlander), a few sweet cleaves, and some general brawling put them all down. Mirado took out a few pretty quickly, but once Bek backed off to let the fighters handle it the rolls went south. He waded back in with a 20 and put things to right. Mirado isn't much of a finisher without mages in melee to keep his enthusiasm up. Rul went down, seriously injured (negative HP) and we had to close in around him to kill the enemy before any of them did any PC-like thing such as finishing the wounded.
Once they were down, Mirado was granted the plate armor (which, despite my concerns about his movement rate and mobility, he took, mostly because it was funny.* Rul took the sword, which turned out to be +1, +3 vs. undead, and glows blue when drawn.
Next we found a bunch of goblins up on a dead-end rise. We negotiated by identifying the one that could speak Common, and Bek casting Sleep on the rest (who looked sickly). While the goblin (later named Brak) told us tales of being inflicted with diseases by some evil dude(s), we tossed oil on the sleeping goblins and lit them up. Mirado's oil, actually, which just goes to show how much of a callous person he is.
Further exploration revealed a wide open coal mine area with prompted Loretta Lynne/Sissy Spacek comments under the place went all Harryhausen on us and ranked skeletons with matching weapons and shields rose up from the ground. Awesome.
We backed off to narrow, higher ground, and held them off. They attacked, but we basically trashed them although injury was incurred and we ended up needing to break out potions again.
From there, we continued to explore, aided by Skylander's extremely useful undead-detecting wand. We found a collapsed area we chose to leave for the moment. We next found a cul-de-sac with a shadow in it. It didn't last, because stating with Bek we opened up on it with everything and hit it hard. It went down without hitting any of us.
From there we found the BBEG. A cleric with a magical lantern and skeletal guards, and an alter with an otyugh all cut up on it to generate whatever disease magic he was working. What followed was a messy fight. Hold Person paralyzed Irban, and the cleric and skeletons swarmed in to attack Skylander. He tried to Magic Missile the lantern out of the guy's hand but didn't manage it, and took some hammering back from the cleric for his trouble. Mirado, who'd been holding back in the darkness, waded in swinging. A mix of misses and bad misses leeched away a few HP (I forgot to ask Erik how it manifests, actually), but eventually Mirado started to tee off with 19s and 20s as Rul got in hits, too. Rul had his sword, and Mirado just sucked up a -4 to hit in the darkness. We eventually got the cleric down and were able to feed potions to Bek and get him back up and going. Mirado took the cleric's head as proof we killed him, but that never turned out to be needed.
We looted the guy, finding magical armor and a magical mace (given to Irban, because he lacks a magic weapon), and eventually some cash and what turned out to be crappy gems.
We did some miscellaneous looting and exploring, but it mostly ended there. We did great on magical loot and general slaying, and got a bit of coin, too.
* Actually, Doug offered me the plate, and I said "Okay." Almost immediately he suggested as a lower-HP fighter he might benefit more, so I just snapped out "I already said OK." Everyone burst out laughing . . . . which is mainly why I did it. Still cost me some better armor later - same AC, lower weight. Oh well.
Notes:
We explored the dungeon out in exact room order, 1-8.
As discussed last time, we needed better fight coordination. We got it in spades today. Shots were aimed at damaged foes trying to set up cleave results (generally; once I nailed a full-HP skeleton because I thought killing it was more important than scoring a cleave . . . lucky me I got it anyway). Downed PCs were rescued but first we secured them from damage. PCs stuck close to benefit from area-effect powers (Mirado's ring, for one) and so they could aid each other. It was much more solid teamwork and it showed in the way we generally plowed through the opposition and survived what could have been death.
Once again, Mirado's quick claiming of some mundane gear cost him better mundane gear later. Last time, it was a longbow that cost him a longbow +2. This time, it was old plate armor that cost him banded armor +1. Hopefully we'll find something magical in the future and I can leverage my lack of magic armor into claiming that! I'm not so comfortable with armor that D&D-style game systems feels is clumsy and heavy. I'd rather take a few hits than drown or sink or clank. But for now, I'll keep it.
Mirado's Ring of Protection (10' radius, saves only) has been really useful. I'm glad I traded for it, it makes me a real close-in asset.
Woundlicker cost me 2 (might have been 3 - I erased instead of crossed out, it's hard to tell now) thanks to 1s, and got me 2 back (thanks to hits on the cleric.) Its inability to suck HP from undead makes it risky against them, because it's risking HP loss just to get a +1 to hit and damage. But screw it, Mirado isn't carrying a spare sword just for undead. Might have to take the axe out next time though.
Mirado's ogre head has been interesting. Ever since I got it and started dual-wielding it, I've been rolling generally better. I got off a few 2-3 foe cleaves this session, and at least one of those hits (two, perhaps) were by the +1 for dual-wielding. It's a damn lucky head. I marked off some money to cover getting it preserved and weighted so I can keep bashing folks with it. It would be funny to turn it into a helmet and then turn the cleric's head into my "new" weapon. Heh. Nah. The ogre head is cooler.
I love playing S&W, but it's hard not to get the idea out of my head that my armor should be protecting me from damage, not hits, and that when I get hit and hurt that I'm not really reduced in combat ability. It's not a system complaint, it's just that going on 30 years of GURPS/Man-to-Man play means its concepts and concerns are deeply embedded in my reactions.
Doug blogged about this sooner and better than me.
PCs
Mirado the Bloody, Human Fighter (lvl 2) (me)
Irban - Half-Elf M-U/Thief (lvl 2/2?) (Jason)
Rul Scararm, Human Fighter (lvl 1) (Douglas Cole)
Starlander Bek, Elf M-U (level 4?) (Joe D)
All of our characters awoke with a dream of a skeletal armor crushing a village, and trampling the sign reading "Aberton" underfoot. Being adventurers, we totally failed to realize that "Keep Out" doesn't mean "Free Money and Beer" and decided to investigate. Eddie Murphy's comment about Amityville came to mind. A vision of a glowing magical sword didn't hurt - although Mirado immediately realized that we'd be tracking it down for Rul, whose total lack of a magical sword is a shame to one and all.
It was a few days' ride to Aberton, so Mirado sprang for horses for everyone because he has more cash than things to spend it on. Mirado's horse is named Melyngrab.
We rode to the town, and found it was marked up as a plague center. So we bravely decided to follow a trail we found nearby and avoid the town completely. Along the trail we found a zombie caught in brambles - and shot it to death with arrows. It had been dead a long time, long enough for its clothes to rot.
We followed a rough trail to a collapsed mine. We checked around to avoid getting jumped from behind - and were attacked by skeletons who rose from the dirt to attack us. They didn't last.
Once they dropped, we dug. Mirado pitched even after claiming fighters should supervise, and clunked himself with falling rocks for 2 HP damage. Sigh. The stench of death from inside was strong, but only Irban was affected.
We pushed inside, and found a bunch of zombies in tattered uniforms (from a nearby monastery.) We put them down pretty quickly, and moved further into the dungeon, keeping to the left mostly because it seemed most likely to secure our rear than going right would.
Next up was a bigger room, with a plate-armored skeleton with a glowing sword, and some glowing spots on the ground that inevitably sprouted more skeletons. We fought, and some web spells (lit up by Starlander), a few sweet cleaves, and some general brawling put them all down. Mirado took out a few pretty quickly, but once Bek backed off to let the fighters handle it the rolls went south. He waded back in with a 20 and put things to right. Mirado isn't much of a finisher without mages in melee to keep his enthusiasm up. Rul went down, seriously injured (negative HP) and we had to close in around him to kill the enemy before any of them did any PC-like thing such as finishing the wounded.
Once they were down, Mirado was granted the plate armor (which, despite my concerns about his movement rate and mobility, he took, mostly because it was funny.* Rul took the sword, which turned out to be +1, +3 vs. undead, and glows blue when drawn.
Next we found a bunch of goblins up on a dead-end rise. We negotiated by identifying the one that could speak Common, and Bek casting Sleep on the rest (who looked sickly). While the goblin (later named Brak) told us tales of being inflicted with diseases by some evil dude(s), we tossed oil on the sleeping goblins and lit them up. Mirado's oil, actually, which just goes to show how much of a callous person he is.
Further exploration revealed a wide open coal mine area with prompted Loretta Lynne/Sissy Spacek comments under the place went all Harryhausen on us and ranked skeletons with matching weapons and shields rose up from the ground. Awesome.
We backed off to narrow, higher ground, and held them off. They attacked, but we basically trashed them although injury was incurred and we ended up needing to break out potions again.
From there, we continued to explore, aided by Skylander's extremely useful undead-detecting wand. We found a collapsed area we chose to leave for the moment. We next found a cul-de-sac with a shadow in it. It didn't last, because stating with Bek we opened up on it with everything and hit it hard. It went down without hitting any of us.
From there we found the BBEG. A cleric with a magical lantern and skeletal guards, and an alter with an otyugh all cut up on it to generate whatever disease magic he was working. What followed was a messy fight. Hold Person paralyzed Irban, and the cleric and skeletons swarmed in to attack Skylander. He tried to Magic Missile the lantern out of the guy's hand but didn't manage it, and took some hammering back from the cleric for his trouble. Mirado, who'd been holding back in the darkness, waded in swinging. A mix of misses and bad misses leeched away a few HP (I forgot to ask Erik how it manifests, actually), but eventually Mirado started to tee off with 19s and 20s as Rul got in hits, too. Rul had his sword, and Mirado just sucked up a -4 to hit in the darkness. We eventually got the cleric down and were able to feed potions to Bek and get him back up and going. Mirado took the cleric's head as proof we killed him, but that never turned out to be needed.
We looted the guy, finding magical armor and a magical mace (given to Irban, because he lacks a magic weapon), and eventually some cash and what turned out to be crappy gems.
We did some miscellaneous looting and exploring, but it mostly ended there. We did great on magical loot and general slaying, and got a bit of coin, too.
* Actually, Doug offered me the plate, and I said "Okay." Almost immediately he suggested as a lower-HP fighter he might benefit more, so I just snapped out "I already said OK." Everyone burst out laughing . . . . which is mainly why I did it. Still cost me some better armor later - same AC, lower weight. Oh well.
Notes:
We explored the dungeon out in exact room order, 1-8.
As discussed last time, we needed better fight coordination. We got it in spades today. Shots were aimed at damaged foes trying to set up cleave results (generally; once I nailed a full-HP skeleton because I thought killing it was more important than scoring a cleave . . . lucky me I got it anyway). Downed PCs were rescued but first we secured them from damage. PCs stuck close to benefit from area-effect powers (Mirado's ring, for one) and so they could aid each other. It was much more solid teamwork and it showed in the way we generally plowed through the opposition and survived what could have been death.
Once again, Mirado's quick claiming of some mundane gear cost him better mundane gear later. Last time, it was a longbow that cost him a longbow +2. This time, it was old plate armor that cost him banded armor +1. Hopefully we'll find something magical in the future and I can leverage my lack of magic armor into claiming that! I'm not so comfortable with armor that D&D-style game systems feels is clumsy and heavy. I'd rather take a few hits than drown or sink or clank. But for now, I'll keep it.
Mirado's Ring of Protection (10' radius, saves only) has been really useful. I'm glad I traded for it, it makes me a real close-in asset.
Woundlicker cost me 2 (might have been 3 - I erased instead of crossed out, it's hard to tell now) thanks to 1s, and got me 2 back (thanks to hits on the cleric.) Its inability to suck HP from undead makes it risky against them, because it's risking HP loss just to get a +1 to hit and damage. But screw it, Mirado isn't carrying a spare sword just for undead. Might have to take the axe out next time though.
Mirado's ogre head has been interesting. Ever since I got it and started dual-wielding it, I've been rolling generally better. I got off a few 2-3 foe cleaves this session, and at least one of those hits (two, perhaps) were by the +1 for dual-wielding. It's a damn lucky head. I marked off some money to cover getting it preserved and weighted so I can keep bashing folks with it. It would be funny to turn it into a helmet and then turn the cleric's head into my "new" weapon. Heh. Nah. The ogre head is cooler.
I love playing S&W, but it's hard not to get the idea out of my head that my armor should be protecting me from damage, not hits, and that when I get hit and hurt that I'm not really reduced in combat ability. It's not a system complaint, it's just that going on 30 years of GURPS/Man-to-Man play means its concepts and concerns are deeply embedded in my reactions.
Doug blogged about this sooner and better than me.
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