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View Full Version : The Gift rev. ed. demo report II



Yagathai
10-11-2005, 04:11 PM
Ran The Gift again for a group of local gamers.

Starting off, the Elf Prince decided not to wear the mail to the presentation. Thinking fast on his feet, the Loremaster sang a song of merriment -- which, unfortunately, triggered a Greed check that all the Dwarves failed, but sidetracked them for a moment on the question of why an appropriate gift wasn't presented.

The Dwarves commanded that the Loremaster sing for them all evening long, which he did, explaining that the gift of song was only the first part of the coronation gift, which would include a large parcel of strategically important land. He then proceeded to bestow the Song of Friendship upon them (after consultation with his fellow point-ears) to further butter the Dwarves up. Immediately afterwards, the Elf Prince pleaded fatigue and the Dwarves decided that the Elves could have a few hours to "freshen up" before the big feast.

The Seneschal insisted on leading the Elves to their chambers personally, at which point he caught sight of the Mithril, and completely blew his Greed test. Not even one success on the Steel roll. He immediately commanded all of the nearby guards and servants to "guard the elves and their possessions well, and closely. Very closely". Immediately the Seneschal conspired with the Warden to manufacture an "incident" and steal the armor, but didn't include the Prince in this conspiracy at his request so that he could maintain "plausible deniability".

During the feast, there was a contest of veiled insults between the Drunken Uncle and the Seneschal, which culminated in some pretty provocative dirty tricks from the uncle -- which the Seneschal had the good graces to ignore instead of making an issue of them. The Dwarves were eager to discuss the details of the location and value of the piece of land, but since the elves were completely unprepared to give details about this complete improvisation, they wanted to postpone the talk for a week, to give them time to send a message back to the Prince's father. The trick was going to be that the parcel of land was going to be a dowry for the Prince's sister, who would be wed to the Dwarf Prince.

A duel of wits ensued between Loremaster and Seneschal, to see whether or not the issue would be discussed now or a week from now. The Princes decided to remain above the debate, as did the Ranger, but the Uncle, the Warden and the Sword-Singer all got into it together. The Dwarves won, but just barely, so it was decided that the issue would be discussed in three day's time, after a few days of feasting and festival.

The next scene was an arts and crafts exhibition, where the Dwarves made a point of showing off their martial crafts, in a hope that the Elves would show theirs off. A small martial-prowess dick-measuring contest between the Warden and the Sword-Singer ensued, in which the Warden discovered that she was clearly outmatched.

Nothing much was happening, and no progress was being made, so I decided to interject what you hippy-dippy gamers from the Forge might call a "bang", but what I would just call an event -- several of the Dwarves guarding the armor in the Elves' chambers failed a Greed test, and slaughtered each other over who would possess it. The Warden was called away to deal with the situation, the Seneschal followed, and the Ranger decided that he was going to use the Cloak and spy on where they went.

As soon as the Warden saw the armor, covered in gore and surrounded by slaughtered Dwarves as it was, she failer her Greed check and dove for it. Gathering it up in her arms, she decided that she was going to take it down to the armory for "safe keeping". The Seneschal immediately engaged her in a Duel of Wits, in an attempt to convince her that she should bring it to the Prince's Chambers, where the Prince's private bodyguard would better guard it than the Warden's own men. The Warden lost, but just barely -- she managed to reduce the Seneschal's Body of Argument to 1, so the compromise ended up being that the Armor would go to the Prince's Chambers, but the Warden and her men would be responsible for guarding it.

(continued in another post)

Yagathai
10-11-2005, 04:22 PM
The Ranger, hearing this, ran back to the arts exhibit to let his Prince know. Immediately upon receiving the news, the Elves quit the hall to return to their quarters. They immediately browbeat a hapless servant into telling them where the Prince's Quarters were. Meanwhile, the Dwarf Prince found out via a soldier what happened and returned to his quarters to confront the Seneschal and the Warden.

The Dwarf Prince stormed by the guards guarding his door and... immediately failed the Greed check. He Commanded the Warden (who was still clutching the Armor) to give it to him, and took possession if it himself. The Elves attempted to enter the Prince's chambers, but were stopped by the guard. The Swordmaster proceeded to Silent Fury the ever-living hell out of the hapless guards, who dropped their weapons, cowered and stood aside. Unnoticed by the Elves, the Drunken Uncle had followed them from the craft hall and was right behind them. The Elves stormed into the chambers and confronted the Dwarf Prince -- who immediately handed the armor over to the Seneschal. "How did this armor come to be in my private chambers?!" It was a real comedy moment.

The Seneschal and Warden hemmed and hawed about how they brought it here to be secure, and since they had it already they would accept it in lieu of the gift of land and passed the armor back to the Prince... At which point the Elf Prince commanded the Sword-Singer to take it back. The Sword-Singer drew his blades, and then combat started.

Of course, the first order of business was to establish positioning, and I used Luke's recommended group-positioning rules. First I had everyone pick up a number of dice equal to their Speed, and the Dwarves noticed that they were picking up a lot less dice than the Elves. Then I had the elves pick up another die for their higher speed multiplier -- "Because their legs are longer" was how I explained it. Then I asked if anyone had a Reflexes of six -- and all the elves raised their hands and none of the Dwarves did. At that point the Dwarf players realized how badly outmatched they were.

(continued in another post)

Yagathai
10-11-2005, 04:30 PM
The Ranger dropped the arbalest-toting Drunken Uncle with a Traumatic arrow-wound to the belly. The Seneschal and Loremaster engaged in a pathetic slap-fight in which nobody did anything useful. The two Princes both drew their weapons and faced off against each other, and the Warden and the Sword-Singer paired off as well. Both Warden and Sword-Singer traded a few blows to no great effect -- their armor held. In the meantime, the (unarmored) Elf Prince decided that getting the armor back was more important than engaging his foe, so he dropped his sword and grabbed the Mithril. The Dwarf Prince, instead of striking his unarmored, unarmed counterpart, charged the Ranger who had just skewered his Uncle -- but just as he closed with him, the Ranger finished singing his Threne and vanished!

In the meantime, the Warden had completely dominated the Sword-Singer. With a couple of fluke rolls, the Dwarf managed to Disarm the Elf, and then Push him to the ground. The Elf Prince handed off the armor to the Seneschal and dove for his Sword, but it was too late -- a couple of Great Strikes later, the Sword Singer took a Traumatic wound to the head. However, the Elf aced his Steel test and managed to remain on his feet -- despite the massive gaping hole in his skull.

The Senschal managed to make it to the door to leave the Chambers -- only to find a half-dozen polearm wielding Dwarves menacing them.

Amazingly, there was a peaceful, not slaughter-y end to this situation. The Princes decided to eschew the council of their subordinates. The Dwarf Prince decided that the wound dealt to the Sword-Singer was suitable punishment for his effrontery in drawing weapons in the Royal Presence in the first place, and if a suitable weregild was to be paid for the wound to his beloved Uncle, the Elves could leave in peace. The Loremaster was left as hostage against the payment of the (massive, massive) weregild, and the Elves left.

End of scenario.

luke
10-11-2005, 07:55 PM
Dude, that wasn't a "bang," that was a BOOM! It rattled windows up and down the eastern seaboard.

Holy cow, man! Good instincts, and great AP!

-L

Yagathai
10-12-2005, 05:43 PM
AP?

luke
10-12-2005, 07:10 PM
AP?

that's the economy version of Actual Play.

-L

Ozark Tim
10-13-2005, 07:14 PM
Wait... Who wound up with the armor?

Yagathai
10-16-2005, 10:56 AM
The Elves went home with it.