D&D 4E Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)

[Aravis]

A minor correction and an addition...

Notes on the battle that followed:

• It was 34 minions (Level 8 crossbow thugs) vs. 7 level 8 PC's. On the good side, we took out a bunch on the first round, before the twenty additional enemies showed up, so there were never 34 at once.

• 
  
  35 minions...the 34 comes from the number we killed. One got away. When the pissed off Werewolf snarled that we had killed all of his men, we were able to tell him that we did not kill all. Only All minus one. For some reason this did not ameliorate him.
  
  Gilran's run across the bridge was to put himself next to a group of crossbow men for a Thunder Leap from next to one bunch to next to another. It should have taken out more of them, but again I rolled badly. However, I did not draw the Attacks of Opportunity I was hoping for.
  
  -Aravis

 

[Piratecat]

I love an occasional all-minion fight. Seeing a veritable army on the battlemap is incredibly fun. I'm glad they knocked du Chenoselle into the river, though; that would have been tricky.

Du Chenoselle was not the guy's actual name, by the way. It was a friendly nickname my group gave him. For instance, try pronouncing the last half of his name "nozzle."

 

[theskyfullofdust]

Quick question for PCat, from sheer curiosity: when it came to the minions, did you tell your players that they were all minions, or let them know after they'd killed a few, or something else?

 

[the Jester]

Quick question for PCat, from sheer curiosity: when it came to the minions, did you tell your players that they were all minions, or let them know after they'd killed a few, or something else?

This is a very interesting question. Typically, the pcs have to figure out who is a minion imc, but I've seen a lot of heated discussion on this issue.

 

[Piratecat]

I try to describe them with in-game terms - as 8th level minions, I said these guys looked like "trained soldiers. They're well armed and they move like they're competent, but they're deserters so they probably don't have great morale." Then the first one goes down with a single shot and it becomes apparent.

I'll never say "it's a minion," but I'm happy to say someone looks weaker or less competent. Wasting a daily on a single minion doesn't make the game more fun for anyone, including me. This seems to work for my players; if they miss the hint, they just run with it.

I also used the same color glass bead to represent these minions (I don't have much of a mini collection). If I wanted to mess with player expectation I might use different color glass markers, or swap in a different color bead if the group hit one who wasn't actually a minion.

In this case, I was hoping they'd shove du Chenoselle into the river so I could stagger the fight; to draw attention to him, I made his marker distinct. I also had half the troops come in during round 2 as a second wave. Made for a fun escalation of the fight.

 

[Piratecat]

However, I did not draw the Attacks of Opportunity I was hoping for.

To be fair, you're an exotic foreign elf who had chaos energy swirling around you, and every single soldier who attacked you instantly died in some hideous (and oddly beautiful) way. If you saw an enemy like that, what would you do?

 

[Blackjack]

If you saw an enemy like that, what would you do?

Surround him in a circle, and then attack him one at a time.

-the Dept. of Cinematic Ninjas

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Surround him in a circle, and then attack him one at a time.

-the Dept. of Cinematic Ninjas

If your villains aren't doing this, they're not being correctly trained, that's what I say.

 

[Pelenor]

This sounds like an awesomely epic game. I rank this thread right up there with Sepulchrave's story hours. Different posting and prose stile of course. Also it's an incredibly useful source about 4e in actual use.

 

[Aravis]

To be fair, you're an exotic foreign elf who had chaos energy swirling around you, and every single soldier who attacked you instantly died in some hideous (and oddly beautiful) way. If you saw an enemy like that, what would you do?

<insert rant about ghouls who paralyze you immediately after you save form said paralysis>

But seriously, I am not saying you did the wrong thing. I was just pointing out that my tactic did not have the hoped for result.

-Aravis