NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8557980" data-attributes="member: 42582">It wasn't very desperate - the PCs escalated it from drive-off to kill, and killed the bandits in one mighty Attack round. It was a little comical.I inserted the bandit encounter because one of the players built a skald, and while preparing for the session I'd decided that if someone built a "talk-y" PC I would place a (potential) social encounter at the start of the dungeon. The loot was generated by rolling once on Loot Table 1 for the additional area, and once on Loot Table 2 for each 2 of the Might 2 bandits, so twice in total (4 bandits): I got gear (a helmet), more gear (2 candles) and some stuff (an indecipherable note which the dreamwalker was able to decipher).The dealing with the bandits cost 3 turns plus two conditions (angry, and hungry and thirsty), and a PC's helmet was damaged in the fight, so it was kind-of a break-even scenario at best: some tests were clocked, a Fate point or two earned, and (in effect) some food swapped for some candles. So while the combat wasn't deadly, it wasn't what it would be in Burning Wheel. You've compared it to Paranoia; I think my comparison to Vance-ish grim fantasy comedy also holds up under analysis.I'm not criticising the game in saying it's not "story now" - I'm just calling it how I see it, and especially how I see it in relation to Burning Wheel, which is a natural point of comparison.Most of the decision-making I've seen in my three first sessions involves how to approach the situation - what skill to test, what gear to use, etc. Classic operational play, which is what a game with the title Torchbearer should be delivering!But the very fact that the basic premise of play is a GM-designed dungeon that the players explore and try and "beat" via their PCs pushes against "story now" - though as I've said, of course the flavour the players bring in their PC creation will inform the details of the GM's situation and consequence narration.</blockquote>

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