Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

(OOC: Rohal is also archery support, plus werewolf abilities. He's along primarily for the werewolf thing, though. Larric and Rohal have the same skill in crossbow and archery, respectively. Anyway, I really wish I kept better track of my notes from my time in ROTC. I still have a few field manuals somewhere in my room but they're not exactly relevant. One outdated copy of the Soldier's Handbook and some stuff on drill and ceremony, combatives, and counseling. I suppose that's better than nothing.)

"It would be. Military doctrine, as I have been taught, is to send the minimum amount of forces necessary to engage the enemy. I want to maintain some reserves and somebody needs to keep the refugee safe."
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

OOC: Um, that sounds more like tactics for large units (platoon size and up) and less like small unit tactics (squad size and down).

If you're worried about four men with swords rushing you from the underbrush, having two swordsmen in front and two swordsmen "in reserve" doesn't work as well as it might when the numbers are forty, twenty, and twenty respectively.

Broadly speaking, though, if I understood your plan right it should work about as well as anything else. What matters isn't so much the details of who's standing where (since we're going to be bunched up pretty tightly), that's not how this combat system seems to work, it's that we don't get dispersed. As long as everyone can hurry to the assistance of everyone else in less time than it would take an ambush to flatten us, we should do all right.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

(OOC: Yeah, this is why I wish I kept my notes. This is a scouting thing, anyway, and I suppose I can just ask Feralgnoll out of character if I'm not sure about what to do. Still, not dispersing was the most important thing.)
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

OOC:

Not scouting as such, I think- as I understand it, we are honestly trying to pass through, and if nothing weird happens to us then we'll just go through, refugees in tow. It's sort of... convoy escort? Something like that. Hence the need to have some strength guarding the refugees, while keeping a solid chunk of force up in front.

IC:

Again, are any of those lights actually close to the known location of the ford?
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

(OOC: Well, the group I'm sending is scouting things out to make sure there's no real danger, then the whole group passes through. Are we agreeing past each other about what we're doing?)
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

My impression was that everyone would be sticking to the road and moving in a single group, with the people in front being there so that any trouble would land on the ones prepared to deal with it the best.

Did you mean that we'd send the party or a portion thereof through the mist to the ford first, and only come back for the prisoner and refugees if the party is unmolested? Because that would make some sense, but I didn't grasp that from your description. If that's what you have in mind I won't dispute it, it's probably better we do it that way.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

The following assumes the scouting spearhead of William, Larric (for the magic and perceptions) and Rohal went ahead...

Right, let's go do horribly lethal things.

There's little wind, and less actually in the mistbank; Rohal's nose catches a faint scent of...damp lemons? Something like that, something primarily to disguise a natural scent. Largely rules out dwarf or orc, which wasn't really much of an elimination but it's nice to be sure. Also linseed oil or something like it, something rubbed into a hafted weapon or a bow to keep it waterproof and stop it drying out and cracking. Faint hints of oil- based dyes, too, and a sharp tang that might be somebody's spicy lunch. Very faint and hard to determine direction- nineteen times out of twenty he wouldn't have noticed anything at all.


Also, simply as a GM call, this isn't a very big don't but- Sorchus, where are you? I'd rather not have a character sent into danger, on point, whose player isn't here. That's just begging for a crunchy scream in the mist and a little crimson trickle running back to the party.

Chlorine elementals. I liked that trick- although the consequences of a critical summoning failure could be entertainingly lethal.


Radulf actually being on the horse- better not, not after the first attempt to escape. He's a fairly competent rider, and trying to kick the horse into rearing, jerk the reins out of Bryan's hands and simply gallop off is just too tempting. He does try it- flashback bit, this- but Bryan did managed to hold on to the beast and dodge the kick Radulf aims at his head, it's the horse in the middle that suffers the most. After that I wouldn't recommend letting him sit on the horse.

Lights close to the ford- yes.

Starting off in, then;

William- almost sees something. Corner of the eye, head on the right. Darker grey than the surrounding fog, hunched, hard to tell size, but not gargantuan. Not sure if it was a trick of the fog and the floating glows or actually one of them being momentarily careless.

Visibility within the mist is erratic- opening out at times to more than a hundred, maybe two hundred yards, as it closes in again sometimes it's hard to see from one end of the party to the other- and those are the moments when the light seems to flicker closest.

Another smell reaches Rohal's nose- vile, not in itself but because of what it means, the scent of the eldritch and long dead, long- vanished graves and ufinished lives; he may not be the only odd thing abroad. There's a faint humming in the air, too.

Larric notices two ripples in the fog- no, in the magic of the air, they've gone active, used a shade too much, curving this way, one of them moving like a bird, fast and swooping, the other stalking towards you starting to parallel you.

Actions?
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

Larric shouts and points at what he detects- "Look out! Over there! And up there!" He raises his crossbow to cover the flying ripple- is the thing about to swoop down onto us, or is it some distance off and simply following us?
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

The skill of Thaumaturgy is your theory of magic, basically; on default-
familiar. Wizard and familiar, a fairly robust one at that to stand having magic cast through it, the mist is thick behind it-it is in effect laying a blocking screen, trailing that in it's wake; momentarily it passes through a patch of clearer air and you can tell- it's a gyrfalcon. It's clouding your sight to it's master, the one stalking you, who is near as dammit already invisible- only followable by the tingle in the air, the magic.

He must be aware of that, too, at least in theory aware that he, she, it, can be detected that way- and he (she, it) doesn't smell of the grave. What are they running interference for?

There are two lights starting to brighten in the area not screened, too, a red and a blue, hovering some distance apart, the red is steady but the blue is swelling and fading lowly, in a rhythm not far of a heartbeat.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

(OOC: Yes, that's what I meant.)
Readying his maul for action, Alfred says, "Rohal! Distance and direction?"
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Feralgnoll »

With a breathing in deep, Rohal attempts to figure out the locations of their assailants. He readies an arrow in his bow following Larric's track.

"A few moments Alfred, I will find them."
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

The gyrfalcon will probably pass close to you; within fifty yards- but it's moving fast and is a difficult target. Its master- best guess somewhere to the right of your line of advance, about thirty degrees, not at weapons' reach but likely within bowshot...and the air around Rohal is glittering faintly.

That's what he was doing, one reason you could sense him earlier; fortune was with you, yes, but he was establishing a closer relationship with the mist and fog around you. He can track your passage via the mist you move through, he doesn't need to see.

Something else occurs to those with good tactical nous; time works for him. Give him more time and he uses it to prepare the environment and skew the odds against you.



S.L.Acker, Sorchus, Kaelan- where are you? This would be a really good moment for swords. And axes, and any other pointy object you may want to bring.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by S.L.Acker »

OOC:

Assume that Radulf was given a quip about doing things the hard way and tied behind the horse after that attempt.

IC:

Bryan was just a little ways behind the party but keeping one hand leading his horse through the fog and half an eye on Radulf doesn't leave him much of a chance to go on offense. Instead he draws the arming sword at his hip and makes himself ready to defend and counter attack while still trying to press forward to get free of the mist.

As he readies to fight a moving battle he calls to the others and says, "Keep moving forward, the best defense in this fog is going to be worse than anything we can mount once we get to the other side."
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

Bryan, we're being shadowed right now, and the fog bank covers about three square miles along the river. If whoever's doing this has hostile intent, they can and will jump us before we get free of the mist.

So, we seem to have more or less the whole party with us, although since Sorchus tends to keep odd hours and may not be checking up on us, I'm not sure I can assume Eliska is with us or not. We brought our prisoner into the fog, going by SLAcker's latest...

Larric calls out into the fog, in the direction he thinks the wizard is located:

"Hullo! Who are you, and what do you want with us?"
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by S.L.Acker »

OOC:

I still favor retreating forward if we can and heading out the way we came if not, all assuming that the person behind the lights and fog is after us. At least then we aren't at such a disadvantage as we are currently. If we must stand and fight I wonder if we can't do something about some of the fog nearest to us. I know that water vapor isn't Larric's thing, but electrolysis on a large scale could get us a clear patch. Not sure if that's even possible though...
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

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OOC:

Larric's got his own ideas about dealing with the fog; he's not pure electromagnetism-oriented, it's just his main offensive and defensive focus.

Basically, I figure an attempt to communicate doesn't really cost us anything- and if this is all some elaborate gambit directed against the Caer Edric garrison, maybe we can convince the wizard behind it to let us go through without a fight.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

Exasperated, he mutters towards Bryan, "I gave an order for you to maintain camp. Dragging a bound prisoner into mystic fog is not maintaining camp." He sighs and says, "Secure the prisoner to a tree or something and get your ass over here." He turns to Rohal and says, "If the wizard shows hostile intent, do what you must. Bryan will come with you and Larric will maintain magical and ranged support. I will stay behind and make sure no harm comes to Larric. If he does not, get the smoothest talker among us and get that wizard to lift the fog."
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

I approve of trying to talk to it, and if the being in the mist didn't have his own agenda and arguably duty, it would bring more result. Leading Radulf back to find a convenient tree (the trick may be finding it twice)-

There's no actual response from the wizard; what happens is actually quite worrying; the fog thickens, drifts closer, you all feel a little breeze spring up- seems to be going nowhere, air moving over you, feeling you out, probing.

There's a chill that isn't just the moisture, and half- glimpses of something perhaps ten yards away that could be an arm, a leg, almost the colour of the mist; always out of the corner of your eye. Long, flowing hair, sometimes grey, sometimes shading into colour, face never directly seen. Humming softly, sweetly, something that could almost be mistaken for the wind.

I think everyone except Rohal makes the obvious connection; Banshee.
Remember what he smelt earlier? Bane sidhe don't do lunch. How genuine is it, simulcra, illusion? Real thing camouflaged by an illusion of itself? Summoned assistant, ally, master, which, of the live and breathing and almost certainly elvish wizard-ranger over there?


It flickers around all of you- who's fighting back, and how? It- actually she- hasn't done you any harm yet. Are you letting it get as far as Radulf?
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Tasoth »

Right, good, grand. We've walked into the middle of a fog with our prisoner on the only horse and fae folk about. Fallard readies his shillelagh and contemplates delivering a good shot to Radulf's ribs to keep him from trying to flee but holds onto it. Instead he shouts out into the mist.

'Who goes there? We seek to simply ford the river here and continue you on without trouble.'

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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

Mumbling to himself, "They say no plan survives contact with the enemy. They never said anything about your own side's ears."
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

OOC:

It helps when you explain the plan in depth.

The forum RPG format is very bad for this, because usually players don't get more than a few rounds of back-and-forth conversation a day. True meeting of the minds is difficult. If you come up with a detailed plan, and assume everyone else is on board with it two pages later when they never explicitly agreed to it in the first place, there's going to be trouble.

So being clear and repeating the full details of what you have in mind at every opportunity helps- we didn't know whether you were describing a marching order by which everyone went into the fog, or a plan that split the party into two groups, only one of which went into the fog.

(Also, please to remember Alfred's magic resistance; he can in fact outright defy the effect of a spell by sheer stubbornness sometimes, as ECR pointed out earlier. This might even work better than trying to defy the things you were defying earlier, such as crossbow bolts and sledgehammers)
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Panzersharkcat »

(OOC: Yeah, he will remind himself to have everybody repeat the plan back to him before plunging in next time to make sure they understand. Also, Alfred does not have magic resistance tagged as a skill. He has resist persuasion, injury, and disease, but not magic. Larric and William are the only ones with resist magic tagged as skills.)
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

And if people's ears were the only bit that failed to survive, it would count as a good day.

The blue and red lights seem to be orbiting each other now, and the air feels tense, electric, as if they were about to coalesce into ball lightning- then the banshee (it's bloody hard to tell if something that's half real at the best of times is really there or not)- drifts towards Radulf, who sneers at it. He doesn't think it's real.

He might still be right, but the gyrfalcon certainly is real, and more quiet- it swoops out of the mist towards him, not quite striking, the apex of it's dive less than a wingspan over his head- and a charge of magic leaps from the falcon to Radulf.

Larric recognises this one; it's Insight. Far more usual on inanimate objects than people, but from an elvish point of view, what of it? Radulf's luck, much like his earlier attempt to resist being magnetised, is dead out- he convulses, thrashes, collapses to the ground and lies twitching there. At least he's still moving.

Ahead of you all, the mist thins- you can see the fortress tower now, still blurry but there, definitely there, you can see the way.
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by Simon_Jester »

OOC:

Panzer: Crap, I got that backwards. And, hah, no plan of battle survives contact with your friend's ears.

IC:

Larric tries to take matters in- assuming he can see what's happened to Ranulf, he gets the hint. Or at any rate, if he doesn't get the hint, I don't.

"Well then, how about we collect our cantankerous cargo there-" gesturing at Ranulf- "and be on our way?"
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Re: Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

Post by S.L.Acker »

"I spoke in favor of moving in as a group and nobody said anything against it. Besides, I don't recall vetting you as our leader," snaps Bryan as he looks for a place to hitch his horse. Then, as he searches he adds, "No point in making this worse by working against each other. What has your group seen? I only caught bits and pieces from how far back I was."
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