Dark Virtues: heroes 1: world 0

[eruditus]

Had a near death last night in the groups first real combat... against four trolls!

However, the dice were with them and everyone was generally much faster than the Trolls and rolled well with Avoids and natural defenses. One player took a Midi on an incidental hit which knocked her clear into next week. She'll be nursing broken ribs for a few weeks. Another nearly fatal crossbow bolt to the back of the head was overted only by the presence of a thick mist (DOF of six would have ended the good doctor's career right quick).

Six PCs (the martial artists wasn't much use yet, unfortunatley) against four trolls took about 45 minutes and six exchanges. On ran, two collapsed under the barrage of attacks from all sides, and one was laid low by a combination of being locked down by The Choke (first spell of the game) and a gauntletted brawler pummelling him.

With one exception the fight went really well. The MA just has to start learning Precision training if she plans on killing Trolls cause a power 3 isn't cutting it.

[spring_violet]

Damn usless hands...*grumble*

Abby actually may be missing her imaginary stone fingertips :lol:

[Kublai]

The MA just has to start learning Precision training if she plans on killing Trolls cause a power 3 isn't cutting it.

I heavily advise a workout regime of 4 hours of pushups a day! You'll up that Power in no time! Perhaps the rules for Stunning Blows Training might help as well as the Precision Training? Does your MA have access to any Special Moves (ie, Iron Fists)?

The greatest thing about having a Stat of 3 is that there's a lot of potential for quick advancement! :wink:

[eruditus]

Unless she is not interesting in being beefy. Maybe she wants to maintain her girlish figure ;)

no really, that is one of the premises for dozens of martial arts is the ability to wreak havok on an opponent despite size and brute strength. I think the combination of Precision Training and new manuevers will be just the trick in time without resorting to push-ups. If one is spending one's time doing push-ups then one is not spending the time doing forms and practicing manuevers - and to be the martial artists she wants to be will require an enormous amount of time :)

[Yagathai]

It WAS irritating that the only character with the hope of doing any consistent damage to the trolls was The Good Doctor, with his massive longsword. The Duelist was hitting, but without Artha he could only do B5s. He could nick at them all day long without even doing superficials. Ditto on the Martial Artist, whose punches were unfortunately very ineffective, and, in fact, ditto on the rest of the characters. Even, to my surprise, the Extremely Scary Zombie. Besides The Good Doctor, only the Necromancer really had much chance, and that was only because the trolls were distracted by the other characters enough that he could get off a spell.

I think that we've discovered a party weakness.

Hey Eruditus, I'm curious: What would a B12 have been to the trolls? A midi at least, I hope. That one time, I was ONE success off from doing it...

[Kublai]

Well, there is another method you guys could've tried... ganging up on one troll and helping the PC with the best chance of doing some actual damage - which sounds like The Good Doctor. Those couple of extra dice might've made a difference.

[eruditus]

yeah, I forgot all about helping attacks. Good idea. Maybe the doc will suggest that next time :)

[luke]

Well, there is another method you guys could've tried... ganging up on one troll and helping the PC with the best chance of doing some actual damage - which sounds like The Good Doctor. Those couple of extra dice might've made a difference.

this is very good advice. especially for situations where only one character has a chance and he needs all the successes he can get.

go team effort!

as for slender, girlish martial artists...I think you have been playing DOA and Virtua Fighter too much. If I am not mistaken, most martial masters require the body be trained and honed to certain degree before even teaching form! I can imagine myself--in my current state of physical decreptitude--knowing the super-nerve-death-strike-form but being too damn flailingly fragile to pull it off. (Picture an emaciated tyrannosaurus trying to kill a mastodon with his front claws. Eh. Scratch. Eh. The mastodon is not impressed.)


BTW, 4 trolls in 45 minutes is a DAMN GOOD combat. You guys seem to be doing quite well.

[eruditus]

If I am not mistaken, most martial masters require the body be trained and honed to certain degree before even teaching form!

But the body trained and honed does not necessarily translate to Power. Morihei Ueshiba was not a large, nor a powerfully built man yet he developed and mastered one of the most challenging, dynamic and formidable martial arts of the past century. Yipman, Bruce Lee's primary Wing Chun instructor was a stick of a man and one of the most feared and respected martial artists in his region. Some of the foremost masters of Hsing-i and Pakua are old and tubby or have become deathly thin in their old age. Even one of my former teachers, a Vietnamese man named Phan was half my size and nearly half the sheer force I could muster yet would have no problem dispatching me (even with over 15 years of training). For many of those martial arts power has very little to do with it. Application of skill, flexability, precision, speed and most importantly a singular will dictates the prowess of these martial artists, often at the expense of raw physical force, yet never any less deadly.

Now not that many of us who spend our lives behind books and computer screens could hope to compete without honing our bodies, but often Forte, Agility and Will become much more potent weapons.

**steps off his soap box, tucks it under his arm and wanders off**

[eruditus]

Hey Eruditus, I'm curious: What would a B12 have been to the trolls? A midi at least, I hope. That one time, I was ONE success off from doing it...

Yeah, definately a midi. And you guys were spending mad-artha to hit those things too.

things that made the differnance...

- these were scouts, not warriors (per se) and thus did not have the skills hardcore soldiers could have mustered. thus they were throwing four and five dice to the group's very high Agilitys.

- You guys played very defensive

- the Trolls were not very fast. You all averaged higher reflexes and thus were able to pull off Avoid/Strike effectively.

- Our rolls were pretty close to the curve, and since you were rolling more dice for avoids you weren't getting hit. The one person that did get hit will be feeling it for quite a while - I love games without clerics.

- You had the numbers and thus far I have seen that numbers almost always win in BW. Especially once Steel starts being rolled.