Teataine
Explorer
So I ran a quick playtest just now using the second packet. I think we started around a quarter before eight, finished at eleven. About an hour of that was spent on chatting, creating characters, reading through stuff, eating and so on. So let's say about two hours of play.
Just two players. They made a High Elf Sage Wizard and a Human Soldier turned Thug Rogue, Tamion and Jeeves. They're pretty satisfied with chargen but they say it doesn't have enough options yet. They're both longtime 3.x players and they want more stuff to pick from.
I didn't use any of the published playtest adventures, I just can't do it, it's not my thing. Instead I whipped up a custom location in 15 minutes while they were making chars. A sleepy town in the Realms, with a number of hooks. They mostly followed up just one of them.
A druid is pestering everyone in town, asking where they're hiding the wizard Scolious, who has stolen a moon chalice from him. Figuring out Scolious' tower is deserted, the pair break in through a window and explore the chambers. The magical defenses start activating slowly, one by one. They Charm and betray an imprisoned thief who (after an hour) launches an alarm in revenge, releasing a number of skeletons from secret compartments in the tower.
I'm just following the logic of the world, not paying attention to the math, which means that the skeletons are worth so much xp as to constitute a Tough challenge for level 2 characters. About two times too much for our PCs.
The adventurers take down a number of skeletons but are defeated. They stabilize and wake up as Soclious' prisoners. He's feeling merciful so he calculates the damage they have caused and tells them they can pay it off by working for him.
After a couple of odd jobs in town and washing dishes they're nowhere near paying him off, so the elf wizard decides he has enough, sneaks up to Scolious and cuts his throat. I adjucate an auto critical. Scolious tries to defend himself but fails a disruption check at a crucial moment and is eventually slain. The tower's defenses go into full alert mode, the skeletons are released again, trapping the adventurers on the stairs and they are killed again, this time for good.
Felt very Conan, very Dying Earth. In short, what D&D should feel like. Not sure how much of that was just my DMing, but I'd say the system had a little part in it. Not by enforcing or enhancing the colour and flavor but by not obstructing it. Which is good enough I guess.
The players liked the Advantage mechanic a lot. They didn't have any specific complaints, except that they felt they didn't have enough hp, even though they were fighting a very overpowered enemy. With a cleric in the party or goblins instead of skeletons it would have been a cakewalk. So I'm not chalking that up as a legit complaint for hp being to low, merely me using monsters that are too powerful. (In a way this feels awesome because means skeletons are actually fairly scary instead of weak mooks.)
I love that full-round actions, minor actions and move actions are all gone. The actions system works just like I want it to and makes running combat a breeze.
At one point the Rogue grabbed a skeleton by its spine and threw it down the stairs (Str vs Str). At another, he picked up the unconscious and dying Scolious (Str check) to gain 3/4 cover against two attacking skeletons, then threw his body (Str) against the two attacking skeletons (vs Str) to knock them both prone.
We didn't have the chance to see too much of the system in action. The Rogue never tried to hide, nor managed to get Sneak attack off (precisely for that same reasons, and with just two PCs Thug tactics didn't really work). I was not certain whether to award Advantage on surprise. The rules for surprise don't mention it, but the Sneak Attack text says you can get SA from surprise.
The spells that actually managed to be cast were mostly Magic Missile and Light. The wizard used Thunderwave to blast four skeletons and it was awesome and didn't feel too powerful in any way.
Skills don't feel quite right yet, I think by changing things mid-way, the way the Rogue uses skills is a bit messed up right now. Too many special abilities that basically just boil down to "you can't fail things you're awesome at".
Damage resistance is a bitch. The Rogue had a slashing weapon and the skeletons taking only half damage might just have been the determining factor in the PCs' defeat.
I definitely want to play/run more.
Just two players. They made a High Elf Sage Wizard and a Human Soldier turned Thug Rogue, Tamion and Jeeves. They're pretty satisfied with chargen but they say it doesn't have enough options yet. They're both longtime 3.x players and they want more stuff to pick from.
I didn't use any of the published playtest adventures, I just can't do it, it's not my thing. Instead I whipped up a custom location in 15 minutes while they were making chars. A sleepy town in the Realms, with a number of hooks. They mostly followed up just one of them.
A druid is pestering everyone in town, asking where they're hiding the wizard Scolious, who has stolen a moon chalice from him. Figuring out Scolious' tower is deserted, the pair break in through a window and explore the chambers. The magical defenses start activating slowly, one by one. They Charm and betray an imprisoned thief who (after an hour) launches an alarm in revenge, releasing a number of skeletons from secret compartments in the tower.
I'm just following the logic of the world, not paying attention to the math, which means that the skeletons are worth so much xp as to constitute a Tough challenge for level 2 characters. About two times too much for our PCs.
The adventurers take down a number of skeletons but are defeated. They stabilize and wake up as Soclious' prisoners. He's feeling merciful so he calculates the damage they have caused and tells them they can pay it off by working for him.
After a couple of odd jobs in town and washing dishes they're nowhere near paying him off, so the elf wizard decides he has enough, sneaks up to Scolious and cuts his throat. I adjucate an auto critical. Scolious tries to defend himself but fails a disruption check at a crucial moment and is eventually slain. The tower's defenses go into full alert mode, the skeletons are released again, trapping the adventurers on the stairs and they are killed again, this time for good.
Felt very Conan, very Dying Earth. In short, what D&D should feel like. Not sure how much of that was just my DMing, but I'd say the system had a little part in it. Not by enforcing or enhancing the colour and flavor but by not obstructing it. Which is good enough I guess.
The players liked the Advantage mechanic a lot. They didn't have any specific complaints, except that they felt they didn't have enough hp, even though they were fighting a very overpowered enemy. With a cleric in the party or goblins instead of skeletons it would have been a cakewalk. So I'm not chalking that up as a legit complaint for hp being to low, merely me using monsters that are too powerful. (In a way this feels awesome because means skeletons are actually fairly scary instead of weak mooks.)
I love that full-round actions, minor actions and move actions are all gone. The actions system works just like I want it to and makes running combat a breeze.
At one point the Rogue grabbed a skeleton by its spine and threw it down the stairs (Str vs Str). At another, he picked up the unconscious and dying Scolious (Str check) to gain 3/4 cover against two attacking skeletons, then threw his body (Str) against the two attacking skeletons (vs Str) to knock them both prone.
We didn't have the chance to see too much of the system in action. The Rogue never tried to hide, nor managed to get Sneak attack off (precisely for that same reasons, and with just two PCs Thug tactics didn't really work). I was not certain whether to award Advantage on surprise. The rules for surprise don't mention it, but the Sneak Attack text says you can get SA from surprise.
The spells that actually managed to be cast were mostly Magic Missile and Light. The wizard used Thunderwave to blast four skeletons and it was awesome and didn't feel too powerful in any way.
Skills don't feel quite right yet, I think by changing things mid-way, the way the Rogue uses skills is a bit messed up right now. Too many special abilities that basically just boil down to "you can't fail things you're awesome at".
Damage resistance is a bitch. The Rogue had a slashing weapon and the skeletons taking only half damage might just have been the determining factor in the PCs' defeat.
I definitely want to play/run more.
