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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 5437950" data-attributes="member: 18280">Our playtesting group has had a recent shake-up due to real life reasons.  Not all of the original playtesters can play on the same day, so we have a bunch on haitus.I am currently running a conversion of The Cradle of Madness from Dungeon #87.  The original module is for level 6 characters, and I am running it for three level 3-4 RCFG PCs, none of which is a caster.  One of these (playing a 3rd level halfling rogue) started the game with this session with no previous knowledge of RCFG, and with knowledge of D&D gleaned primarily through video games.SPOILERS, therefore, follow.This is basically a "rescue the princess" adventure, where the PCs are seeking the daughter of Lord Danwick, and are expecting to receive a house as a reward.In the previous session, the group defeated the ruined keep's guards, got into the temple below the ruined keep, passed down the stairs, encountered the disintigration trap (one PC nearly died, but by shifting his saving throw from a Reaction to an Action, he was able to gain a +4 bonus and made it).  The characters dealt with the black tentacles and some guards.In this session, the group began examining the temple beyond the hexagonal rooms.  The first was a closet/cloak room, which took them only a short time to deal with.  They then proceeded into the dining room.  Two doors exit this room.After a short time, an ogre enters the dining room from one door.  The PCs are wearing cultist robes, so it simply starts clearing the table.  After its second trip to clear the table, the PCs decide to question it.RCFG has a "Get the Drop" mechanic that allows you to, effectively, hold a creature at gunpoint.  It isn't automatically successful, but it makes these situations more dangerous.  The ogre, though, was a dedicated cultist, and not in a talking mood.  When he went for his cleaver, the two PCs with ranged weapons shot at him....failing to kill him.  Initiative is rolled.....But one of the PCs leaped over the table, attacking with a katar, and finishing him off (Acrobatics gamble for more damage; if the skill check had been failed, the PC would have ended his Action on the table within the ogre's reach).One door leads into a guardroom, from which dogs are heard barking.  The PCs make a quick plan, open the door, and deal with the six guard dogs.  The ruleset encourages gambling skill checks to gain bonuses in combat, so combat is interesting wth different PCs trying all sorts of different things.  Moreover, based on the characters' strengths and weaknesses, each PC begins to organically develop his own combat style.Within is another door that is obviously held closed (one one PC had dogs that refused to approach it, and so the PCs left it alone).  They spent some time looting the room, then examined the kitchen (where the ogre had come from) and the pantry.  The PCs began to plan to take all of the furniture from the place when they were done.Proceeding back into the main hallway, the PCs found the library, where they discovered more clues, were confronted by a ghost, and eventually fled.  (The players have found a number of magic weapons over many game sessions, but for some reason tend not to remember them, to store them in a bank vault, to not examine them, etc., and so had no magic weapons with them.)  The ghost could not follow, so they went to another door.This was the jail/torture area, a series of three rooms.  The sleeping jailor was dealt with via a Stealth check and a coup-de-grace.  Anyone who has read the module will know why the PCs decided against searching his pestilent body.  But they did scoop the magic shield and mace (and realized that they were probably magical, with thoughts of wailing on the ghost).  They then found the jail cell (and corspe) and the half-elf being tortured on a rack controlled by a complex series of chains and pulleys.The players elected to attempt to figure out a way to deal with that on their own, using their own reasoning rather than the dice.  At that point, we had to end the session, because the new player had to go to work.All in all, the session lasted from approx. 6:30 to 9 pm, and was a heck of a lot of fun for all involved.RC</blockquote>

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