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Gears of Revolution: Notes on my campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Colmarr" data-source="post: 5633123" data-attributes="member: 59182"><p>New <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5633107-post4.html" target="_blank">session report</a> posted.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, due to some bone-headed hardware mistakes on my part, we didn't get to start the session until about an hour later than we planned. </p><p> </p><p>I had hoped to get up to and conclude The Sabotage encounter in the first session, but instead we called it a night after the PCs had had a chance to hob-nob with the dignitaries after the King's arrival in Fleet Square but before they had a chance to board the Coaltongue.</p><p> </p><p>This post and the associated story hour post deals with events up to and including the Docker Brawl encounter.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">The good</span></p><p> </p><p>The docker brawl turned out to be a much more exciting combat than I expected. My group were distinctly unimpressive in the Crowd Security skill challenge (see "The Ugly" below) and failed to identify even one of the dockers before the crowd began to pass through the checkpoint.</p><p> </p><p>Because I was playing through Maptool, I didn't want to use the rather plain King's Arrival map for the encounter, and instead used <a href="http://www.educatedgamer.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=7&pos=0" target="_blank">this map</a> to represent Royal Square. The PC's checkpoint was at the northern edge of the map. Rather than have the dockers pass through and the PCs fight them on the bridge, I had Grimsley point out the troublemakers just before they could get through.</p><p> </p><p>That led to a confrontation, with Erik failing a diplomacy check and then Cassi trying intimidation. If she had beaten a hard DC, I planned to stand down the dockers, but she didn't quite get there. Plus, I'd coded all the MapTool tokens and I knew my players liked a fair whack of biff in their D&D, so why not get things rolling?</p><p> </p><p>I had originally thought this encounter would be too easy; four dockers versus 5 completely fresh PCs, but as it turned out the party monk Willheim was down before we were even halfway through the first round. Be aware that 2 brutes on a striker can get <em>very</em> messy very fast.</p><p> </p><p>In fact, the dockers rolled so well and the PCs so poorly that at approximately round 3 I realised that I could very well have a TPK on my hands. All 4 dockers were still standing. Tok had used both his majestic words, Willheim had gone down but gotten back up again, and Erik was down for the count (but stable).</p><p> </p><p>At that point (which coincided nicely with the first docker becoming bloodied and drawing his blade) I decided to throw Thames into the mix on the side of the PCs. </p><p> </p><p>Erik hadn't been particularly nice to the grizzled sailor, but I didn't want the encounter to prove too taxing on the PCs, and I had already established Grimsley as somewhat of a sympathetic character. Hopefully having him help the PCs twice will add some depth and sympathy to the dockers faction.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">The bad</span></p><p> </p><p>I think the skill challenge went poorly, but I attribute that almost entirely to my failing to properly consider the steps in the canvassing of the crowd. Specifically, I forgot that there was a step between "look for someone" and "hey, there's Coulton!". </p><p> </p><p>Without the intermediary step (identifying groups of likely suspects), I found myself in the difficult narrative position of having PCs succeeding at checks and not knowing what to describe to them. It should have been as simple as saying "you see a group of war veterans clustered around a tree. They seem to be discussing something in whispered tones", but instead I fretted over how to advance the challenge without actually putting Coulton & Co squarely in the frame. </p><p> </p><p>Even so, there were some positives. It reinforced my opinion that Thornt's player is the most lateral thinker the group has. It was him that suggested that Tok scan for magic auras and that Thornt was watching the skies for signs of Gale's weather magic (also proving that he had read the player's guide. Yay!)</p><p> </p><p>It also brought to the fore very early in the campaign exactly where the party's strengths and weaknesses lie. They're quite well-equipped for Perception, Streetwise and Bluff, but less so with Diplomacy.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">The ugly</span></p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, as feared, the group never really looked like succeeding at the Crowd Security Skill challenge. They ended up with 5 of the needed 8 successes, although there were 4 checks between 15 and 17 that could easily have turned failure into success if the check DCs had been lower.</p><p> </p><p>I think 8 successes at DC18 from 15 rolls is simply too high a bar for a first level party (at least for a level 1 challenge).</p><p> </p><p>Having said that, I decided before the session started that at least until the end of Island at the Axis of the World, I'm going to run the mechanics of the AP as-written. I won't be altering encounters, enemies or skill DCs. I want to give RangerWickett's version a good chance before I turn my novice DMing skills to altering anything. It'll also give luck a chance to even itself out.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">The Summary</span></p><p> </p><p>Despite the failure at the skill challenge and the near-fatal brawl, everyone seemed to be having a good time, which bodes well for things to come. </p><p> </p><p>The tone of the campaign is evident from the very first encounter, which is very impressive feat of adventure design.</p><p> </p><p>I'll post more about session 1 in the next few days.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Colmarr, post: 5633123, member: 59182"] New [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5633107-post4.html"]session report[/URL] posted. Unfortunately, due to some bone-headed hardware mistakes on my part, we didn't get to start the session until about an hour later than we planned. I had hoped to get up to and conclude The Sabotage encounter in the first session, but instead we called it a night after the PCs had had a chance to hob-nob with the dignitaries after the King's arrival in Fleet Square but before they had a chance to board the Coaltongue. This post and the associated story hour post deals with events up to and including the Docker Brawl encounter. [COLOR=darkorange]The good[/COLOR] The docker brawl turned out to be a much more exciting combat than I expected. My group were distinctly unimpressive in the Crowd Security skill challenge (see "The Ugly" below) and failed to identify even one of the dockers before the crowd began to pass through the checkpoint. Because I was playing through Maptool, I didn't want to use the rather plain King's Arrival map for the encounter, and instead used [URL="http://www.educatedgamer.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=7&pos=0"]this map[/URL] to represent Royal Square. The PC's checkpoint was at the northern edge of the map. Rather than have the dockers pass through and the PCs fight them on the bridge, I had Grimsley point out the troublemakers just before they could get through. That led to a confrontation, with Erik failing a diplomacy check and then Cassi trying intimidation. If she had beaten a hard DC, I planned to stand down the dockers, but she didn't quite get there. Plus, I'd coded all the MapTool tokens and I knew my players liked a fair whack of biff in their D&D, so why not get things rolling? I had originally thought this encounter would be too easy; four dockers versus 5 completely fresh PCs, but as it turned out the party monk Willheim was down before we were even halfway through the first round. Be aware that 2 brutes on a striker can get [I]very[/I] messy very fast. In fact, the dockers rolled so well and the PCs so poorly that at approximately round 3 I realised that I could very well have a TPK on my hands. All 4 dockers were still standing. Tok had used both his majestic words, Willheim had gone down but gotten back up again, and Erik was down for the count (but stable). At that point (which coincided nicely with the first docker becoming bloodied and drawing his blade) I decided to throw Thames into the mix on the side of the PCs. Erik hadn't been particularly nice to the grizzled sailor, but I didn't want the encounter to prove too taxing on the PCs, and I had already established Grimsley as somewhat of a sympathetic character. Hopefully having him help the PCs twice will add some depth and sympathy to the dockers faction. [COLOR=darkorange]The bad[/COLOR] I think the skill challenge went poorly, but I attribute that almost entirely to my failing to properly consider the steps in the canvassing of the crowd. Specifically, I forgot that there was a step between "look for someone" and "hey, there's Coulton!". Without the intermediary step (identifying groups of likely suspects), I found myself in the difficult narrative position of having PCs succeeding at checks and not knowing what to describe to them. It should have been as simple as saying "you see a group of war veterans clustered around a tree. They seem to be discussing something in whispered tones", but instead I fretted over how to advance the challenge without actually putting Coulton & Co squarely in the frame. Even so, there were some positives. It reinforced my opinion that Thornt's player is the most lateral thinker the group has. It was him that suggested that Tok scan for magic auras and that Thornt was watching the skies for signs of Gale's weather magic (also proving that he had read the player's guide. Yay!) It also brought to the fore very early in the campaign exactly where the party's strengths and weaknesses lie. They're quite well-equipped for Perception, Streetwise and Bluff, but less so with Diplomacy. [COLOR=darkorange]The ugly[/COLOR] Unfortunately, as feared, the group never really looked like succeeding at the Crowd Security Skill challenge. They ended up with 5 of the needed 8 successes, although there were 4 checks between 15 and 17 that could easily have turned failure into success if the check DCs had been lower. I think 8 successes at DC18 from 15 rolls is simply too high a bar for a first level party (at least for a level 1 challenge). Having said that, I decided before the session started that at least until the end of Island at the Axis of the World, I'm going to run the mechanics of the AP as-written. I won't be altering encounters, enemies or skill DCs. I want to give RangerWickett's version a good chance before I turn my novice DMing skills to altering anything. It'll also give luck a chance to even itself out. [COLOR=darkorange]The Summary[/COLOR] Despite the failure at the skill challenge and the near-fatal brawl, everyone seemed to be having a good time, which bodes well for things to come. The tone of the campaign is evident from the very first encounter, which is very impressive feat of adventure design. I'll post more about session 1 in the next few days. [/QUOTE]
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