Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

[Panzersharkcat]

After deciding to deal with the grenades later, he moves in cautiously. He tries to feint a jab to the chest before swinging down and trying to take out his legs. He'll try to keep it so he can block with the handle of his maul, though.

[Kaelan]

OCR
As previously stated, out of the loop for a while. I have PM ECR williams actions post duel so as not to hold anything up tonight.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Getting up, he says to the treasurer in mild embarrassment, "My apologies. It seems it was a bit stronger than I anticipated. I will pay for the damages." He looks rather nervously at the grenades now.

(OOC: See, Kaelan. Now it's my turn again to do something dumb. I really should have asked Larric to try to discharge it somehow. (屮ಠ益ಠ)屮 Brain, Y U NO THINK OF THAT EARLIER?)

Honestly, Larric didn't expect it to go bang that hard either. He'd have tried to ground it safely, and hopefully succeeded, if asked, but it wouldn't have occured to him that it would blow holes in spherical masses of iron rock like that.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Didn't that post go through? Fnorddammit.

Right. Short version- Oliver takes Alfred's first move on his shield, pushing it forward then stepping forward behind it, trying to catch and trap Alfred's hammer and open the way for his sword; Alfred does just manage to get the shaft to that in time, but only just.

He then snaps his sword up to high guard position, looking as if he's intending to rely on the shield for defence, and drop the blade on Alfred once he opens himself up by making another attack; Alfred's reflex is to get the sword out of the way first, batter it down, he reaches up to do that-

and Oliver's feint succeeds brilliantly, as he twists and drops sending the blade coming in at chest height. Alfred realises how open he's left himself just in time to half- dodge, half stumble out of the way.


So far, Oliver's ahead on style points, and he does seem to be quite good. Alfred's move, though.


The hammer; rules blather. Overpowering, plus focus, plus one time bonus, plus augments from runes and thaumaturgy (actually rolled on default and succeeded)- basically ended up, normally power 8 skill 8, ended up hitting on power 18 skill 22, doing depending on the roll from two points of structural damage upwards- roll was a 4. Under a quarter, did six points. Castle's got enough to soak that, but that's more than half a light combat construct, a statue, or a cart or structure the size of a garden shed. It worked, didn't it?

[Panzersharkcat]

Trying to catch him before he can withdraw his arm, Alfred tries to hit Oliver's sword arm.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Hmm, an official sounding apology. I’m guessing the usual civilised option of just going out and getting plastered together is not going to work, seeing how barbaric our higher ups are (given that they’re prone to kill each other over indirect slights).

If you look at the history, this is why the aristocracy of most eras was so thoroughly polite, with very strict codes of manners that included details like just how you walked up to someone and how you walked away.

These were warrior aristocrats, which translates into plain English as "hereditary professional killers." The practical difference between a knight and a thug was that the knight had standing in the community: a respected and understood place in a hierarchy, which stretched down from the dirt farmers up through the high nobility. A knight who could not, by his behavior and conduct, keep his standing in the community became a thug- possibly a rich thug with followers, but a thug.

The reason society among warrior-aristocrats is so touchy is that the knight's standing in the community hinges on face- any given knight has to be a very brave and competent fighter. It's even worse in this setting because knights are routinely expected to go out and face down mad wizards or three-headed giants or killer rabbits, that's their job description.

And at a time like this, it's even worse than usual, because the aristocrats have just proven their own inability to defend their society from attack- which is what they exist to do in the first place. So any given knight who hasn't died in battle against the Twentieth Cataphract knows that someone might call their courage and dedication into question.


Now, no one tries to kill each other for no reason. There's always a desire to avoid getting into too much danger- but warrior aristocrats have to balance the desire to avoid danger with the need not to be seen as someone who fears danger. There are few things more useless than a cowardly knight, and few things more poisonous than a treacherous one who claims the privileges of his class while violating the code of conduct that goes with it.

An indirect insult (like the ones between Oliver and Alfred before William stuck his oar in) is resolved with a relatively 'friendly' combat- neither party actually wants the other to get killed, and they're not going to try that hard or use especially powerful weapons (like boomhammers). If William had kept his mouth shut, the duel between Alfred and Oliver might have been very much like the sparring match they're having right now.

But when some random punk who does not have standing in the community makes blatant threats ("You want I should kill him now, boss?") against a man of knightly rank, the rules change. Knights are allowed to defend themselves against such offenses, because part of the point of being a knight is not having to sit there and listen to someone else's minions try to push you around.

In your case, William would be dead meat if he weren't seen as being Alfred's feudal subordinate, because (to use Rohal's analogy) he'd be a rogue wolf, possibly rabid, coming in from nowhere to challenge the alpha of a pack. By claiming him as one of "his," Alfred grants William a measure of protection from being squashed out of hand, but he also accepts responsibility for William's actions... which in this case were the sort of thing that in a civilized society would warrant assault charges.

That escalated what would otherwise be a relatively friendly fight into a serious one where both knights had to break out the heavy artillery.

[Feralgnoll]

OOC: ah so much to tell the party, I just need a mouth that can speak in other than barks and woofs.

IC: Rohal will move away from that as well trying to find a nice spot to settle down and shift. Taking time to ready himself yet again before the hardships.

[White Haven]

OOC: Sorry for the gap, between my car attempting to drill in through my wallet and enter my spinal column, work, and school, I've been light on attention to pay to things this week.

IC:

Verone had seen first-hand just how much raw, barely-stable power had been crammed into that hammer. That was why he'd so scrupulously avoided even looking like he was going to touch it during the inspection. Accordingly, when everyone else was either not paying attention or watching the hammer clonk the wall with vague curiosity, Verone himself was busy triggering his prepared defenses and collapsing into a little ball beneath them. That would have made him look all manner of foolish in any other circumstances, but when bits of masonry began whizzing through the air, it just made him look prescient. In its wake, he clambered back up to his feet, muttering under his breath and shaking his head while giving Larric a very long, intrigued look...

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

I don't think it's much of a reveal to say that William- and Kaelan- and Simon and Larric have two very different approaches to the concept of knighthood here. Hm.


On the field, Alfred's attempt to aim for the arm is not well executed- he's still off balance, takes long enough about recovering for the move that Oliver reads it coming; and basically tries a really fancy move in response, catch the hammerhead on the rim of his shield as it comes past and pull Alfred forward, stepping back with his right foot and effectvely pivoting, stepping back so he's actually facing the same direction and swiping his sword down and across, behind his own head, at Alfred.

It's too fancy, and Alfred manages to pull his hammer back, Oliver keps his shield but can't follow up, has to disengage, turn and face.

The crowd are appreciative.


Oh yes, from the point of view of a properly trained thaumaturge, Larric is at about the level of a trained apprentice- about as much skill as book learning can get him, and ready to begin practise under supervision; but not being formally trained, is willing to take risks and shortcuts (like most hedge wizards) that no-one formally schooled would.

[Panzersharkcat]

He tries a power attack, swiping at Oliver from the side, hoping to bust his shield or at least cause him to stagger greatly. If it works, he'll try to follow through with a kick to the stomach.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The numbers are interesting; they really want this to go on.

Alfred tries that, Oliver steps back out of the way- he's faster on his feet than Alfred- then tries something showy again. He knows he's at a disadvantage against Alfred's size and strength in a straight fight, so he's trying odd, fancy, flashy moves, partly to show off and partly because he thinks it may be the best way through.

In this case, a move he must have learned from d'Artagnan. Forward roll inside and under your opponent's guard- downright ninja tactics this- and come out of it lunging upwards, into your opponent's belly or chin. Not that he actually means to put that much force behind it, but that's the plan.

Alfred does just manage to whack him with the blunt end of the hammer- the shaft end, then- and push him back, stop him getting a clean strike.

[Panzersharkcat]

After pushing him back, he tries to spin around for another power strike and would follow through with a kick.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

As Alfred tries what is essentially a roundhouse kick with a hammer, that gives Oliver about a second to use the flat of his blade as a lever to attempt to take Alfred's feet out from under him.

He actually succeeds, but as Alfred loses his balance he lashes out with the other foot and connects on Oliver's head. A well made helmet with lots of padding is a wonderful thing- it dazes him for a second or two, long enough for Alfred to get up again.


---incidentally, is that a Sorchus sighting in tankville?
If you're reading this, well, you haven't posted for so long I'd decided to have Eliska kidnapped. If you want to post and say what you have been doing since, oh, 4.25 AM or thereabouts, it would be good.

[Feralgnoll]

OOC: Panzer, try momentum swinging, chaining attacks and pressing forward.

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred does as Rohal telepathically... err, OOCly, tells him. Essentially a series of swift jabs to push his size advantage to good use.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric's head is turned toward the fight, but his eyes are on the crater in the wall.

He mutters... "Bigger than I'd thought... must be doing it on the iron, it even more too well than it did on a jar of salt water..."

Then he glances nervously at Verone again- he saw the mage dive for cover, and is feeling more than a little embarrassed and concerned about the whole affair.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

I don't think it's much of a reveal to say that William- and Kaelan- and Simon and Larric have two very different approaches to the concept of knighthood here. Hm.

I view knighthood as a mechanism for taking the inevitable warlordism of so many medieval civilizations, and channelizing it into something that at least keeps up the pretense of being productive. Hopefully the real thing and not the pretense, but at least the pretense- chivalry, in all its variations (bushido, the codes of various Hindu kshatriya subcastes) exists to allow professional warlords and warriors to coexist without making each other's lives intolerable and causing too much internecine warfare.

You could probably translate it all into very thuggish-sounding terms: "street cred" is a pretty close match for "face," and so on. But it's important to understand the role of knights, what they are for, in order to understand why they behave the way they do. There are all sorts of things they won't fight over, but a challenge to their reputation as honorable, fighting men? They can't let that go unanswered.

Of course, all this social analysis is me, not Larric; I'm trying to make sure Kaelan's picture of just what the hell is going on here is informed by the social context, at least how I see it.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Le sigh. Our one female party member gets turned into a faux action girl because of lack of posting.)

[White Haven]

Duels, no matter the drama surrounding them, don't really interest Verone, at least not when he's not professionally required to be interested. As it's no longer a duel to the death and there's no longer any sorcerous artillery in play, well, Larric's improbable devices are a much more interesting topic for inspection. When Larric glances over, he finds Verone's attention squarely on him, an intensely curious expression of some sort on his face...

[Simon_Jester]

"...Er, I'm surprised too. I mean, it worked the same way when I overdid it on a, ah, we called them Peredburh jars back home, back when there was a glassworks. It just didn't work so... big."

"It must be the iron. I'm going to have to remember that one..."

[White Haven]

back when there was a glassworks

...That suggests all manner of very, very bad possibilities, many of them explosive--strike that, most. Verone arches an eyebrow at the awkwardly-volunteered explanation, then gave a slight shrug. "To be perfectly honest, none of that had any right to work at all. You've just thrown a monumental wrench into my own research, but given what you've demonstrated, it was a wrench that very much needed to be thrown. I suppose I should thank you..." Here, his lips quirked in a wry smile, "From somewhere well clear of the blast radius."

[Agent Sorchus]

Sorry been a moderately tough week and a half. And no haven't even been playing tanks (Ask Vortex Empire if you will.) Even a distant death in the family can upset a schedule and eat through free time.

ECR I do not totally know what you have in mind for what Eliska was doing, but prior to the break a week and a half ago I had planned on having her continue experimenting with runes of life to seek living things in a less stressful environment. Hmm that might mean going out of the town to test it and for the monastic peace that is much lacking in the aristocratic world of the castle.

[Simon_Jester]

IC to Verone:

"What do you mean it didn't have a right to work, it's straightforward enough, if you can run electrical fluid through the Quadrilateral Carnation, then if you curve it round like so-" he sketches with his finger- "...well, what can it do but store? That's just common sense! You just have to make a round of the things so you don't get too many sparks at the points, that always jumps off..."

[At least some of this is gibberish to Verone. I just made up the name "Quadrilateral Carnation," because it seemed appropriately geometry-runic]

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Sorchus, I am sorry for your loss. Last year was a bad year for me in that regard, the only comfort being that it could have been worse.

Well,

(OOC: Le sigh. Our one female party member gets turned into a faux action girl because of lack of posting.)

-that's what it would look like from your end, maybe; from Eliska's point of view...

vaguely planning to find a quiet space to test and work on her idea, Eliska gets up early, and realises that it's much earlier than she actually planned- still full night, stars and moons high in the sky, and she feels an energy, an enthusiasm for this that she hasn't been able to hold on to since she was very young.

Since going off to the seminary, in fact. (Resistance rolls made and failed, and)- head burbling with confidence, that this is where her path lies, this is what she has to do, and she ought to go and scramble down the broken side of the castle, and follow a particular path- a path that Rohal may stumble across at the right moment actually-

yes, this is effectively a bewitchment and a summoning, one done with a carrot rather than a stick; and it is also a use of one of the powers granted by the goddess Krylanya.

She works this out when, in a small clearing, she sees the paladin she met earlier with the rest of the party, when you all first arrived at the castle, standing waiting for her.

'Welcome; we need to talk. Come, sit down.'

[Kaelan]

'Welcome; we need to talk. Come, sit down.'

Can anybody else smell fish....

On the knight front I take it that Simon is taking the French model as opposed to the English one.