Playtest Experience [SPOILERS, LONG]

[Boarstorm]

This sounds like a great game. I kind-of wish I had been there.

 

[Kinak]

That was a joy to read, but certainly not as much as it was a joy to DM.

Good show. Good show.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[samursus]

Inspiring!

 

[slobster]

Sounds great. I hope WotC gets a chance to read this playtest report (and that I get a chance to play it).

 

[Rhenny]

Great report. I especially like the following descriptions. Both are evocative and show the impact the game is having. (Your DM skills are also validated with these responses)

Cheers.

Extended rest. 11 dead goblins (1 ran away) and the ogre. Players are white-faced. WHITE-FACED. One experienced player has the wind up him. For the rest of the session, his hands are shaking when he rolls dice. There will be five more combat encounters, and he’ll be screaming “RUN AWAY” in every single one of them.

· The fighter finally drops the chieftain. The fighter's player has a look on his face like his wife just polymorphed into Scarlet Johansson and his life had regained meaning.

 

[Grazzt]

Kudos Lancelot. Great read. Very entertaining. Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

That was great. I laughed all the way through. My group had a really good time, but not near as good as that sounds.


I'll have to step up my game...

 

[Oni]

WotC, this is the sort of thing you want people saying about your game.




That was a fun read, I really can't wait to do my playtest game now, hopefully this coming week!

 

[slobo777]

Reads like you had epic fun.

One thing occurred to me . . .

The dwarven fighter snaps. He charges in alone, screaming at the top of his lungs. He has 7hp. If the 45hp chieftain hits him once, he is down (with no healing left). He swings and hits! The chieftain misses with a “2”. The chieftain’s consorts engage the other characters, who are fighting for their lives. Even “normal” orcs are vicious opponents. The fighter swings at the chieftain again, missing. The chieftain misses. This goes back and forth for SIX rounds. The chieftain rolls five consecutives 2’s and 1’s (all dice rolled in the open, no fudging). Every shot is a miss. Every shot, if it hits, would kill the fighter.

. . . this part is epic thanks to random chance, and that kind of dodging inevitable doom is something your group would talk about for years, whatever the system! It has nothing to do with the playtest material or D&D Next rules, and could happen in any system when a combat gets to knife-edge resources and luck. Of course more often than not, it doesn't happen like that . . . if it did I'd be straight down the casino to bet on Red 22, three times running . . .

Hopefully you and the players would have had the nous to rescue the game at this point if one of the ogre's blows had connected, simply because the rest had been so much fun. Otherwise the other 29 out of 30 times it would have played out rather differently.

 

[Stalker0]

Otherwise the other 29 out of 30 times it would have played out rather differently.

This is something I've learned over the years playing RPGs...the 1 in 30 is what stays with you.

Even if my favorite character dies to bad luck, I can always roll another. But having the ability to surpass those crazy odds and make it out on top is what creates a hell of a story...and long after people have forgotten character names and setting plots...they will remember the stories.