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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flynn" data-source="post: 4063003" data-attributes="member: 1836">Session Notes - 02/20/08Good Morning, All:Last night's session concluded another adventure, and the town of Newport was saved! Yay! Four out of the five members of the gaming group were able to make it (the last suffering a work-related issue), and a friend of mine joined in for a guest shot to try out the system. We gamed about half an hour beyond our normal stopping point, and we had a lot of fun doing so.The Session:As dusk approached, a sound at the locked side door disrupted the party's rest. It turned out to be Brother Claudius joining the party, determined to aid them as best he could in the recovery of the Temple of the Three Graces. As people began to pay their tribute, bells started to toll in different parts of the township, and a majority of the warriors, as well as the locals, rushed to form bucket brigades and fight the fires. Only a handful remained, as confirmed by Calyt after he took on the form of a sparrow and flew about the old Temple grounds and surrounding area to reconnoiter the current situation.After a bit of brief discussion, Brother Claudius presented a plan where he would lure the guards from their position in front of the temple's main doors, so that the party could knock them cold. Things proceeded well for the party, but much to Brother Claudius's chagrine, some well-placed shots slew several of the guards as the party did not share Brother Claudius's pacifism.The battle moved fluidly into the Temple's main courtyard, as the adventurers moved to fight Warlord Vinculos and a handful of mercenaries. Although the mercs dropped relatively quickly, the enemy Warlord fled the scene of the battle, intent on warning Lord Morvel of the intruders. There was a hectic pursuit down the halls of the Temple and into the catacombs, while the defensive Warlord avoided the onslaught of his pursuers. Finally, the party was able to surround Warlord Vinculos, forcing him to fight. Vinculos made a fierce strike against Warlord Andrus, only to find he could not land a blow due to the mystical deflections that Brother Claudius had cast on Andrus earlier. Before Vinculos could act again, the party made short work of the enemy warlord, and he fell to the floor in a pool of his own blood.From where they had felled the Warlord Vinculos, the party spied a ritual taking place deeper in the catacombs. Seven cultists and Lord Morvel danced and chanted around a large bonfire, and Lord Morvel held a bound woman ready to use her as sacrifice. Without hesitation, Calyt the Shade ran forward and cast a sphere of deep darkness over the ritual, allowing the party time to move in without being attacked at range.Even as the party moved forward, Lord Morvel ordered the cultists to step back out of the shadows and then move to attack the invaders. The cultists obeyed, and a number of them moved into a position where they could charge the oncoming adventurers. The party made relatively short work of the cultists, only to be dismayed when the shadows fell away at the end of the spell to reveal that Lord Morvel had changed into an infernal demon resembling a humanoid cockroach, and had laid the woman low with a wound before moving to attack the party.The band of adventurers moved quickly to surround the demon, despite the fact that some of them were disturbed by its fearful presence. Calyt the Shade leapt upon the back of the fiend, opening it up to attacks from the others as it clawed at its new rider. Its carapace was hard, but finally, the damage began to mount up. Finally, Yngvar the Wall was able to land a savage strike that felled the demon.And that's where the session ended...The Commentary:This session ultimately became an extended combat scene, although it truely encompassed what I thought was going to be three separate encounters. The Warlord Vinculos's flight through the halls of the desecrated temple and into the catacombs connected everything, so the night was spent in a long series of combat turns. It was fun, but we really didn't get much else done. That's okay, though, as the players had fun.I learned a number of things this last session. The first is that a character such as Warlord Vinculos with a high Parry score (9, in this case) can be almost unhittable at times if all he does is defend (+2 Parry, total of 11) and move. Even when they hit him, his high Toughness (9) stopped him from taking very much damage. When he stopped to fight, I learned that the deflection power, with a raise, is quite effective. Andrus was essentially -4 to hit, and Vinculos couldn't land a blow to save his life. This is also the combat that demonstrated the true effectiveness of the gang up bonus, as that's how the party took Vinculos down.The tactic of ganging up on the enemy proved to be devastating for the plague demon they fought next. While the demon was relatively easy to hit, it had a very high Toughness (12), and so the first couple of shots that landed were ineffective. Here's where the party learned about using Called Shots. By making a called shot to the vitals of the demon (-4 attack, +4 damage), and making Wild attacks (+2 attack, +2 damage, -2 Parry), with a maxed out gang up bonus of +3, the party was pretty much making attacks at +1, with a +6 damage. With a Joker, that's +3 attack and +8 damage. That made it much easier to damage the demon, and this tactic combined with a spectacular series of aced damage rolls allowed Yngvar (the character of the player that missed the session) to lay a vicious blow on the Demon, taking it from 2 wounds well into Incapacitated. Even though the demon was bleeding out, the party made finishing moves on it to insure its death.My friend that played Brother Claudius as a guest shot enjoyed seeing the system in action, and despite being saddled with minor pacifism, had a great time playing with the magic and even the combat system. He made a number of great taunts, which were only negated by the fact that I had lucky rolls, and he got to fight the demon because pacifism does not cover angry infernal beings seeking to devour the souls of the people in his congregation. He liked the system, and felt it was light enough that it probably depended on the quality of the GM to really make or break the gaming experience, but he had a great time.The group discussed the taunts and intimidation tactics a bit after the session, which makes me think that they will probably start using them more and more as the game moves forward. I think it's interesting to see that Savage Worlds offers some pretty complex and varied tactics through its deceptively simple rules set, and it takes time and practice for all of these elements to percolate to the top so that their benefits can be seen. I also think that I can safely advance the level of difficulty in the combats now, since the party has done so well against recent challenges. It makes sense, though, as they are now starting to enter into Seasoned.Next week, they will get some clues to another of the Oracle's prophecies, and then they will have a choice to make as to what they want to pursue as their next adventure. I might need to do a little more prep work this week, but since prep is easy, I should be ready unless they just outright surprise me with something.Wish Them Luck,Flynn</blockquote>

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