BASHMAN
Basic Action Games
So tonight my GM canceled my regular game, and I decided to go down to the college campus' DRAGON club and see if any folks would be down to play. I had a group of 3 girls, 4 guys, only 2 of which had played 3rd ed D&D before (the rest had never played an rpg before!).
I spent about 10 minutes having people choose characters & explaining what roleplaying is, the core mechanic of the system, etc.
We then began to play. I told them that they had been traveling together for 3 days, on the trail of a Princess who'd been kidnapped by foul beastmen (who slew her bodyguards as she made her morning ride) and taken to the tower of the evil wizard DunFalcon, an enemy of the kingdom.
Houserules: I realized that the game was more fun when I used some house rules, so that's what I did:
Action Points-- if you use your Daily or Encounter power and roll badly, you can use an action point to get a reroll (normally it just lets you take an additional standard).
Rolling attacks that affect multple creatures-- unless the power specifically says you roll separate attacks vs. each foe (like things that hit enemies in sequence, etc), I just roll 1 attack. If your defense is above the roll you saved, if it is below, you failed. So if the dragon rolls a 1 on his breath weapon, it means he sneezed or something and blasted it off the mark, and if he rolls a 20, the crit affects the closest target.
Rolling Initiative for multiplie creatures I just took the lowest init. modiifier and used it for all of the creatures in the fight, under the name "Evil". I do the same thing when a group of baddies is trying to hide, etc.
Healing Magic: I don't limit these to 1/round. If you can use lay on hands 3/day, you can use them all in one action (since each is a minor action).
First Encounter: The Kobolds in the Clearing As the Heroes approached, only the keen-eyed ranger (who was renamed "Flap-Jack") spotted the vile kobolds hiding in the brush (only his passive perception was high enough to see them). Alerting his stalwart companions, they readied themselves for battle. Initiative!
It was 4 kobold skirmihers & a kobold caster (500 xp value) vs. 5 pcs. The fight took longer than I thought it would (those kobold skirmishers have around 30hp each), with them eventually subduing the caster (he tried to run away, but the halfling dove after him w/ a flying tackle (a grapple check) and bore him to the ground. Questioning the kobold, they find out that Dunfalcon's tower is guarded by a red dragon!
Encounter 2: the Red Dragon. So there is no red-dragon written up for 1st level characters to dance with-- so I made it up using the black dragon from DDXP-- but made it weaker (a 500 xp version). I took -4 from all its d20 rolls and defenses, and lowered the die type of some of its attacks from d12 to d10. I also changed its blast to be fire instead of acid, got rid of its darkness ability, and only gave it 1 action point. I also decided to give it vulnerability 5 to cold just for fun, and changed its max HP to 100.
The group walks into a cave (which is the secret path to the wizard's tower) whereupon the Red Dragon drops down on them (it's body matching the ochre-hued cavern walls of its lair), and nobody's passive perception was high enough to match its 25 hide check. It immediately blasted them w/ fire. Then I called for initiative-- the dragon won. So it got to go again, and used its dragon fear-- and rolled a 19, so none of them were unaffected-- paralyzed with fear-- so the dragon went again (strking w/ both claws) and the Pcs could finally act (having to make saves or be at -2 to hit from fear). The ranger tried to sneak around it, and shot, missing, giving him a chance to strike w/ his tail. The Warlock & wizard both let him have it w/ their dailies; and the coolest was the paladin marking him so that if he attacked anyone w/o attacking the paladin, he took 8 damage and was at -2 (btw, there is no save for this effect). The Dragon recovered his breath weapon, and used it on the paladin & all but 1 of his friends, dropping one of them, and putting the paladin below bloodied as well. When a well placed arrow put the dragon to bloodied, he breathed his fire again, dropping their paladin (the only healer, as nobody picked the cleric). The fighter (who was also badly hurt) forwent his attack to pull the halfling to safety (& close to the only healing potion in the party). This incured an AOO from the Dragon, who missed, and took 8 Dmg for his trouble (the paladin's holy effect was still up, I was ruling, which was also why he kept attacking the halfling's unconsious body earlier). With a healing potion (which I declared worked the same as Healing Word) the Halfling was able to stand on his own two feet, the Warlock rolled a natural 20 on her dying check (so she got better, up to one of her healing surges in health), and the Wizard blasted him w/ a crit on magic missile. Realizing he was no longer winning, and only had 21 HP left, the dragon flew away to safety (since none of the party was next to it now).
I asked if they were going to camp or press on-- and they pressed on! They next faced an ambush by a Bugbear head-reaver, 2 Hobgoblin soldiers, & 2 hobgoblin archers. The headreaver charged in & critted the Dwarf for 24 dmg, bloodying him in one stroke. The fight went similar to the 1st one, but there was a chase scene after as the archers fled down a hall & the ranger clipped the last one at 38 squares away, taking him out, where in the night he was eaten by a trapdoor spider that lived nearby. They camped after this encounter.
Final Encounter: Rescue the Princess?
The PCs had finally made it to Dunfalcon's tower, only to see that Dunfalcon was a woman. She revealed that she was the lord's daughter & ran away b/c he kept her like a prisoner & was trying to force her to mary some royal jerk. Her alter ego, the wizard Dunfalcon, had been raidng her father's land for years, and she was getting ready to take it over (rather than let it pass to her younger brother so she could marry some guy she didn't want to). She then used her Dancing Lighting spell to great effect (Pounding several PCs close to bloodied) ordered her minions (human guards, also women) to take them out. The human guards went pell-mell w/ power strikes w/ their morningstars, & the ranger used his immediate action to step-back & shoot one of them. On his round, the ranger killed them both w/ Split the tree, so I declared that both arrows were eyeball shots (from 5 feet away mind you). The evil wizard was subdued by magic missile eventually & taken bound & gagged back to her father.
It was a fun game. I was surprised how easy it was for the newbs to pick up. It didn't seem to play faster as far as encounters go than D&D, but there was less waiting for your turn (it took more rounds to kill things though).
Some observations: The Wizard's player kept saying "well I magic missile, since their is nothing else I can do" and got a bit bored w/ that spell. "Running" is totally worth using-- it made the difference a LOT.
The game was fun, and there was plenty of RP this time around.
I spent about 10 minutes having people choose characters & explaining what roleplaying is, the core mechanic of the system, etc.
We then began to play. I told them that they had been traveling together for 3 days, on the trail of a Princess who'd been kidnapped by foul beastmen (who slew her bodyguards as she made her morning ride) and taken to the tower of the evil wizard DunFalcon, an enemy of the kingdom.
Houserules: I realized that the game was more fun when I used some house rules, so that's what I did:
Action Points-- if you use your Daily or Encounter power and roll badly, you can use an action point to get a reroll (normally it just lets you take an additional standard).
Rolling attacks that affect multple creatures-- unless the power specifically says you roll separate attacks vs. each foe (like things that hit enemies in sequence, etc), I just roll 1 attack. If your defense is above the roll you saved, if it is below, you failed. So if the dragon rolls a 1 on his breath weapon, it means he sneezed or something and blasted it off the mark, and if he rolls a 20, the crit affects the closest target.
Rolling Initiative for multiplie creatures I just took the lowest init. modiifier and used it for all of the creatures in the fight, under the name "Evil". I do the same thing when a group of baddies is trying to hide, etc.
Healing Magic: I don't limit these to 1/round. If you can use lay on hands 3/day, you can use them all in one action (since each is a minor action).
First Encounter: The Kobolds in the Clearing As the Heroes approached, only the keen-eyed ranger (who was renamed "Flap-Jack") spotted the vile kobolds hiding in the brush (only his passive perception was high enough to see them). Alerting his stalwart companions, they readied themselves for battle. Initiative!
It was 4 kobold skirmihers & a kobold caster (500 xp value) vs. 5 pcs. The fight took longer than I thought it would (those kobold skirmishers have around 30hp each), with them eventually subduing the caster (he tried to run away, but the halfling dove after him w/ a flying tackle (a grapple check) and bore him to the ground. Questioning the kobold, they find out that Dunfalcon's tower is guarded by a red dragon!
Encounter 2: the Red Dragon. So there is no red-dragon written up for 1st level characters to dance with-- so I made it up using the black dragon from DDXP-- but made it weaker (a 500 xp version). I took -4 from all its d20 rolls and defenses, and lowered the die type of some of its attacks from d12 to d10. I also changed its blast to be fire instead of acid, got rid of its darkness ability, and only gave it 1 action point. I also decided to give it vulnerability 5 to cold just for fun, and changed its max HP to 100.
The group walks into a cave (which is the secret path to the wizard's tower) whereupon the Red Dragon drops down on them (it's body matching the ochre-hued cavern walls of its lair), and nobody's passive perception was high enough to match its 25 hide check. It immediately blasted them w/ fire. Then I called for initiative-- the dragon won. So it got to go again, and used its dragon fear-- and rolled a 19, so none of them were unaffected-- paralyzed with fear-- so the dragon went again (strking w/ both claws) and the Pcs could finally act (having to make saves or be at -2 to hit from fear). The ranger tried to sneak around it, and shot, missing, giving him a chance to strike w/ his tail. The Warlock & wizard both let him have it w/ their dailies; and the coolest was the paladin marking him so that if he attacked anyone w/o attacking the paladin, he took 8 damage and was at -2 (btw, there is no save for this effect). The Dragon recovered his breath weapon, and used it on the paladin & all but 1 of his friends, dropping one of them, and putting the paladin below bloodied as well. When a well placed arrow put the dragon to bloodied, he breathed his fire again, dropping their paladin (the only healer, as nobody picked the cleric). The fighter (who was also badly hurt) forwent his attack to pull the halfling to safety (& close to the only healing potion in the party). This incured an AOO from the Dragon, who missed, and took 8 Dmg for his trouble (the paladin's holy effect was still up, I was ruling, which was also why he kept attacking the halfling's unconsious body earlier). With a healing potion (which I declared worked the same as Healing Word) the Halfling was able to stand on his own two feet, the Warlock rolled a natural 20 on her dying check (so she got better, up to one of her healing surges in health), and the Wizard blasted him w/ a crit on magic missile. Realizing he was no longer winning, and only had 21 HP left, the dragon flew away to safety (since none of the party was next to it now).
I asked if they were going to camp or press on-- and they pressed on! They next faced an ambush by a Bugbear head-reaver, 2 Hobgoblin soldiers, & 2 hobgoblin archers. The headreaver charged in & critted the Dwarf for 24 dmg, bloodying him in one stroke. The fight went similar to the 1st one, but there was a chase scene after as the archers fled down a hall & the ranger clipped the last one at 38 squares away, taking him out, where in the night he was eaten by a trapdoor spider that lived nearby. They camped after this encounter.
Final Encounter: Rescue the Princess?
The PCs had finally made it to Dunfalcon's tower, only to see that Dunfalcon was a woman. She revealed that she was the lord's daughter & ran away b/c he kept her like a prisoner & was trying to force her to mary some royal jerk. Her alter ego, the wizard Dunfalcon, had been raidng her father's land for years, and she was getting ready to take it over (rather than let it pass to her younger brother so she could marry some guy she didn't want to). She then used her Dancing Lighting spell to great effect (Pounding several PCs close to bloodied) ordered her minions (human guards, also women) to take them out. The human guards went pell-mell w/ power strikes w/ their morningstars, & the ranger used his immediate action to step-back & shoot one of them. On his round, the ranger killed them both w/ Split the tree, so I declared that both arrows were eyeball shots (from 5 feet away mind you). The evil wizard was subdued by magic missile eventually & taken bound & gagged back to her father.
It was a fun game. I was surprised how easy it was for the newbs to pick up. It didn't seem to play faster as far as encounters go than D&D, but there was less waiting for your turn (it took more rounds to kill things though).
Some observations: The Wizard's player kept saying "well I magic missile, since their is nothing else I can do" and got a bit bored w/ that spell. "Running" is totally worth using-- it made the difference a LOT.
The game was fun, and there was plenty of RP this time around.
