Von Gotens Predicament and Cristop

[Enlil]

I ran Von Gotens predicament a few months ago. It went pretty well - I really like the system.

Since the players were Cristop and Miles, and no great shakes in combat, I had 3 of the goblin archers, I think. Cristop snuck onto the roof pretty handily, while Miles hid behind a mound and waited. Cristop dropped burning hay into the chimney, then blocked it shut (or something similar - it was a while ago), and when the goblins came out choking on smoke, Miles shot 'em, and Cristop dropped from the roof and tried to use the garrote (his only weapon, according to his sheet).

That was were things got messy. It took me a while to find the damn skill, since it is in the orc section, and then I had to figure out locks, which it turns out I didn't understand as well as I thought I did (and didn't expect to use, really). Then, when I did figure it out, the player, my brother, couldn't beat the damn goblin enough to throttle the life out of him (or, possibly, I was playing it wrong. But he was really rolling like crap :) )

Meanwhile, Miles shot the other two, one of whom ran screaming, and the other died or was at least knocked unconcious.

So, I had fun, but I would suggest removing the garrote skill (or at least attache a note about how the garrote works, like for the wizard and priest). And list a knife in cristops inventory.

Sorry about the bits of the above that are bitching, but it sort of turned my brother off to the system, which was a damn shame. And the garrote rules require stuff that isn't on the demo quick reference sheet. So that particular character is not ideal for a new GM, or at least it wasn't for me.

In any case, Luke, I love the system, and the layout is easily the best I've seen in an amateur book (and looks better than the majority of professional books I've seen!)

Christian

[luke]

good point.

i built those characters intending for them to be in demos I was running. I usually give Cristop to that player who must play the "assassin". The Garotte is a bit more than just stabbing someone, but works fine when the GM is familiar with the rules.

Get Inside
Lock
Lock
Lock

that's really all you need. The garotte is a leverage/choking device that allows you to start choking someone without having them completely incpacitated. It's really not meant for "combat". It's either a stealth weapon or a method of execution.

give you brother Gravas (or better yet, the Named Orc from the Poisonous Ambition pack) and have him take another shot at the game. Run him through a melee (and let him win!). I think he'll like the feel it of it.

thanks!
-L

[eruditus]

yeah, I felt locks were not as inuitive as I'd like. Also I found them to be VERY poswerful, knocking someone out in a very short amount of time with most high power characters. Of course, the great equalizer is the wily guy with a high speed... good luck getting inside :D

Regardless it works well enough.

Refresher:
Attacker rolls Speed to "get inside" versus opponent's speed.
Attack's next action is to do a lock (wrestling or Power) vs Power or Sped tests.
Extra successes act as die penalties against the defender.
If the defender's Forte goes to zero with the die penalties then their are incapacitated.

Hey Luke? If two opponent's were locking at the same volley (maybe same action) could you just make one roll each and the winner gets in the locking dice?

[Enlil]

Don't get me wrong - I like the way garrotting works - I just would have preferred not having to look up how it works in the middle of the game :) . I mainly made sure I was familiar with the stuff on the demo quick reference sheet. Hence why I suggested having something on garroting like for spells and miracles.

Yeah, Get Inside/Lock/Lock/Lock or something like that was what I told him to script. Part of the problem was he just couldn't get a good lock. The goblin rolled ok and he rolled awfully. I think the stats and skills were close enough that it was touch and go, anyway, or so it seemed at the time

It was pretty funny though - the goblins and Miles were trading shots, while their compatriot was engaged in a life or death struggle with a guy trying to choke the life out of him. Only not quite, or not for several turns.

Christian

[luke]

It was pretty funny though - the goblins and Miles were trading shots, while their compatriot was engaged in a life or death struggle with a guy trying to choke the life out of him. Only not quite, or not for several turns.

Christian

this sounds like a perfect BW combat!
8)

[Manicrack]

nice,
I actually can't wait until i can play the predicament with a couple of my firends.
But first I will(as Luke advised me) run a couple of combat demos for them. So they(and I) can get used to the combat sustem.

btw, i reread all the combat moves again today. I feel more comfotable with them now, but I guess I should know them a little better.
But it's perfect for a demo.

-Crack