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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flynn" data-source="post: 4011089" data-attributes="member: 1836">Session Notes - 01/23/08Good Morning, All:Below is a brief discussion of last night's Savage Worlds game set in my Kintara homebrew. As you can tell, most of it was offering the party a lot of adventure hooks, but they still got in a little action. A few lucky die rolls turned what appeared to be a routine combat sequence into a pretty intense encounter, and much fun was had by all.The Synopsis:Having recovered from their fight against the undead Mistress Kaerna and saved the valefolk village of Amberglen, the party begins making their way south. After a brief layover in Ladytown to report the outcome of their quest to the Lady's Hand, the High Priestess of the Lady of the Vale, the party continued back into familiar territory. It appeared that Trader's Point had stabilized, so with a lighter heart, they made their way south towards Synovia.On the border of Synovial lands, a few hours north of the village of Greenfell, the party came upon a small band of men, five bandits and their leader Rendrus. The air was thick with the tension of the moment, but then the party decided to go on their way, having learned that their mercenary friend Lieutenant Volus now resided in Greenfell as the Captain of the Guard and de facto lord mayor.Upon arriving at Greenfell, the band of adventurers met with Captain Volus, who asked them to stay and defend Greenfell from harm. With all the local heroes dead, Rendrus and others had turned to crime, and had fled the village before facing the judgment of Volus. The village to the south, Newport, had succumbed to plague. The township beyond that, Oxbridge, had been taken over by a sea dragon named Cornelius, who renamed the territory as Cornelia in his own honor and was capturing villagers to use as slaves. A village to the west, Moonwell, lay under siege by a large brand of brigands, possibly the Sundered Kings (exiles of the dwarven Triumverate to the north that had turned to banditry). Piracy ran rampant on the high seas. In the aftermath of the Midsummer Massacre, the days ahead looked bleak. Quaseo, the raven and former magical companion to the now-deceased Magus Sisuthros, returned during the discussions and spoke of Captain Azareus and Rufius, among others, being prisoners of the sea dragon Cornelius.The party discussed their options. In the end, they decided to shore up Volus's position in Greenfell by hunting down the bandits led by Rendrus, make for an Oracle that dwelt on an island in Newport Bay, and then try to work their way quickly to Synovia to seek aid in recovering their friends from Cornelia.With that decision made, the adventurers headed out the next day in search of Rendrus. It was a long day, with a few failures, before the party came upon an abandoned farm that the bandits had been using. The bandits had left a few hours before, followed shortly thereafter by a pack of wolves. Anzjin, the elven priest, led the group in pursuit of their foes. In the late afternoon, the party had finally caught up with the band as they fought against the ravenous wolves that had also been tracking them.The three-sided battle waged on as the party fought both wolves and bandits, sometimes together and sometimes apart, following the ebb and flow of combat. Magus Chrysander cast spells in an attempt to entangle his enemies, and was only partially successful. Rendrus held his own, bringing both Anzjin low and nearly slaying Chrysander before Rendrus was finally dropped to a state of near-death by the talented archery of Calyt the Shade. Yngvar Stonewall was particularly effective against their combined enemy, and even Warlord Calyt joined in the close combat. Both were wounded by panicked bandits, but none died (although Chrysander came close).In the wake of the battle, the band quickly took to healing their own. With the aid of magic, the four wounded recovered significantly, though Chrysander suffered a permanent wound (a busted gut) which looked to hinder him for the rest of his days. With rage in his heart, Chrysander slew the unconscious Rendrus. With reproachful looks, the party looted the bodies of the fallen, while Anzjin set to the care of the wolves that had fallen but escaped death.And that's where the session ended...Commentary:In this session, the major rule interaction this time was with the larger combat. Here, I threw five wolves, five bandits and a ranger wild card against the party of five PCs. I pitted the wolves against Rendrus's gang, and that resulted in two deaths. The rest fell at the hands of the party. I enjoyed the setup on this scenario because it was not a "monsters against the PCs" encounter, but rather a two-sided battle that the PCs decided to join as a third side, so it felt refreshing as a change of pace. Also, this was perhaps the biggest fight I've thrown against them yet, with ten Extras and a Wild Card as the enemies.The fight was glorius. The use of a few pieces of terrain added to the flavor of the scene, but it was all about the die rolls. A few well-rolled attacks and damage caused some concerns, particularly to the dwarf who was not often hit and more rarely hurt in combat. Rendrus landed a rather vicious blow against the PC Chrysander, giving him something akin to six wounds of damage, so the player elected to spend his bennie on the incapacitation roll instead of trying to soak. As a result, he was bleeding out instead of outright dead. He eventually stopped bleeding out, but at the cost of a permanent wound, a busted gut that reduced his Vigor by one die type. The player took it in great stride.We also had some great and enthusiastic use of the rules to do "cool things", like leaping out of a tree while firing a bow for the final shot that took Rendrus down. The fight definitely had its cinematic moments, and I am glad to see that the players are getting into the spirit of the rules and of the game, stretching themselves a bit and having fun doing it.Next week, we should see some interesting stuff as the party tries to make it through the Newport area, avoiding the Red Death while seeking the means to consult the Oracle about the various tasks that lie ahead of them.Wish Them Luck,Flynn</blockquote>

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