Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Friday July 6 1280, Sunrise (The Crying)

The screaming and clashing of metal continues as Gaven comes out of the shadows. "Ho comrades, how goes the battle? The archers have split, but know of the ruse, so they will be returning soon. Stan, stay near Oloc and Ollie hold back." 

In answer, Varros attacks the now frenzied goblins near Belloc, attempting to help Belloc make his way through the goblins by choosing targets of opportunity that could pose any threat or block the captain. All the while he keeps an eye open to see what the fire elemental does, thinking it could turn on its former allies, an idea he expresses to the party.

Duran inquires of Oloc whether he has enough left in him to control the elemental. But Oloc is for a brief moment clearly drained by his struggle with Bloodfang. Seeing Oloc is otherwise okay though, Duran tries to bring down as many Goblins as possible, ready to follow Varros' lead if the elemental turns on friendly forces and help him bring it down.

Gaven follows suit, continuing to fire at the frenzied goblins as well. "Will wooden arrows or even steel be able to hurt a being of fire?" he asks.

Belloc's archers drop still more of their goblin counterparts, but the human left center begins to crumble and fall back in panic. Fortunately, Varros, Gaven and Duran drop five goblins in Belloc's path as the captain plows forward on horseback. The remaining right flank goblins flee in terror before him.

The elemental seems entirely uninterested in the battle and seeks only to get away, now that the one who enslaved him is gone and he has once again gotten his bearings. The creature turns and flees toward the west, slowing only to swat one of the remaining goblin archers who gets in his way, leaving the small humanoid's broken and smoldering body in his wake.

Far across the field, you hear a mighty cheer raised by human voices, and you can dimly make out the shadows of goblins fleeing on that flank, pursued by their human adversaries.

And almost like that, in the blink of an eye, the tumult of battle subsides as the remaining goblins throw down their arms. Realizing their leader is dead, their comrades in panicked flight, the beast departed, and their numbers greatly diminished, they evidently see that they have no hope, and give up instead.

As you look across the battlefield, you see Belloc's men almost immediately tying up prisoners and binding wounds. All told, the men of Fairbrook hold eighteen captives. Fifty-seven goblins and hobgoblins lie dead on the field, including Bloodfang. Belloc lost twelve of his original fifty men.

After giving some orders to his men, Belloc rides up to you, with a wide grin on his face. "Well done, well done!" he says. Out of nowhere, Karnak flies down to land on Varros's shoulder. He appears to have darkened goblin blood on his talons and beak.

The captain climbs down from his horse. "I was a bit worried about our center, but your distractions and your blows to the enemy's flank were more timely than I could have hoped. And I suspect," he adds, looking at Oloc, "that the flaming beast's flight was of your doing. I'm not sure how we would have dealt with that creature without taking far greater casualties than we did. You've all definitely earned an even more substantial bonus than I had originally planned to give you – and you'll have it when we return to Fairbrook."

The captain looks around. "For now, my men are exhausted. Our plan is to return to the Northstar inn, take a few hours sleep, and then return to town. Will you join us? The road will be safer if we all travel together. Besides, you look like you could use a few hours' rest as well."

Belloc's men are just finishing their cleanup and the sun inches over the eastern horizon. Belloc is right. You feel absolutely exhausted as you realize that you've been awake, marching and fighting for a solid twenty-four hours.

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OOC: Actions?

Just for reference, it is now 5 a.m. As you have been up for about 24 straight hours, fatigue penalties will begin to accrue for any combat you might have between now and such time as you get some rest.

Combat Detail:

Initiative: Party wins 4-3

Duran:

d20 = 16 + 1 (medium range) + 2 (flank shot) =  19 (hit); d6 = 5 (goblin killed)
d20 =  17+ 1 (medium range) + 2 (flank shot) =  20 (hit); d6 = 2 (goblin killed)

Varros:
d20 =  18 + 1 (medium range) + 2 (flank shot) =  19 (hit); d6 = 3 (goblin killed)
d20 =  20 + 1 (medium range) + 2 (flank shot) =  20 (hit); d6 = 2 (goblin killed)

Gaven:
d20 =  6 + 1 (medium range) + 2 (flank shot) = 9 (miss)
d20 =  14 + 1 (medium range) + 2 (flank shot) =  17 (hit); d6 = 4 (goblin killed)

Total Monsters Defeated by Party in Battle

10 Goblins
1 Hobgoblin Mage
1 Fire Elemental

Quick Question

I'm inclined to make a switch in the awarding of XP to the "flat 100 xp / HD of creatures defeated" method that some people use. It's a nice simple formula, but one that comes with a trade-off. It tends to cause faster advancement at lower levels (you'd get 100 xp for a 1 HD creature instead of a measely 15 xp) but it slows advancement at higher levels (it comes out to less than the standard book values for higher xp creatures). Does anyone have an objection to using the 100 xp/HD formula? I'm just thinking you guys might find the quicker advancement more useful at lower levels than at higher levels.

12 comments:

  1. Oloc - Mage

    As Belloc praises Oloc, the young Mage only shakes his head. "I was fortunate. My spell was ineffective, but it was enough to break the concentration of the hobgoblin spell caster. All those who use spells have such a weakness."

    Oloc will wholeheartedly accept the offer of escort back to the inn. He desires a good rest, a meal, and then to sit down and discuss plans to investigate the ruins!

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  2. Varros - Fighter

    Varros looks to Belloc, "Thank you captain, it was touch and go there at first, the fire creature could have been the death of us all." Varros turns his attention to Karnak and hands him his usual reward for a job weel done then rubs the feathers on the raven's neck, "Well done Karnak! It looks like you had a part in the battle as well. Good job my friend."

    OOC; Varros agrees that rest is definitely needed. Bard, I think the exp system you propose is a good idea. I would love to get out of one hit kill range! Lol.

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  3. Duran - Fighter

    Sinking to the ground in utter exhaustion Duran takes a long drink from his water skin. As Captain Belloc approaches Duran pushes himself off the ground and joins the others.

    When the Captain is done speaking Duran says "I would welcome the rest Captain. You may want to send someone to let the farmers know they can return to their homes. The poor fellows are frighten enough as it is."

    OOC: Duran will head with the others back to get some rest. The XP idea sounds good to me but admittedly this being my first time I probably wouldn't know a bad idea if I saw one.

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    Replies
    1. Varros - Fighter

      OOC; At the first opportunity on the journey back to the inn Varros will engage Belloc in conversation an praise him on his leadership valor and bravery in the battle. Varros will also try to engage Belloc on the ruins, Mayor Adsul and Karnak.

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  4. Oloc - Mage

    ooc: Forgot to comment on the XP question! I am absolutely fine with the suggestion!

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  5. Gaven - cleric

    Following the battle Gaven steps aside and gives a benediction to the Light. Once rejoining the Company and Belloc, he says, "We were blessed by the Light to drive away chaos this night. Captain Belloc, I agree it would be best to travel together."

    Ooc: one possible caveat for the 100 xp/hd rule is that we will likely not earn enough gold to buy the level-up bonuses.

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    Replies
    1. OOC: Actually I was just thinking about how this change would affect treasure.

      So far I've been using the basic (standard, I think) rule of thumb that gold available in any given environment/adventure is equal, on average, to about 2-3 times the monster xp available in that same environment/adventure.

      Going with the 100 xp/HD idea, my plan would be to keep that same proportion, so that both gold and monster xp will be higher than book at lower levels, roughly the same as book at mid-levels and less than book at higher levels. Since the relative ratio of gold and monster xp won't change, access to spending perks should not change either (unless my math is off).

      While I'm definitely no fan of the "Monty Haul" style campaign, I'm not too worried about that here since you guys have to spend the gold in one way or another to convert it to xp (so no one will be hoarding gold, obviously).

      This will certainly make advancement even more rapid at lower levels, while at the same time slowing it more at higher levels.

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    2. OOC: Well, what would happen following this battle?
      If it is 100 XP/HD and we defeated about 10 HD in monsters, Gaven would be at 1354 xp out of 1500 needed to level 2. Assuming I spend 150 gp, Gaven would level up. Since I have spent 150 gp so far towards the 751 needed for the spending perk, Gaven would need to receive a bit less than 600 gp himself to buy the perk.

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    3. Rapid leveling may be ok for this type of game because the game moves so slow.

      With that said, it also depends on what type of setting and types of adventures you want to run.

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    4. OOC: I think you're right. I've been running various situations around in my head and fiddling with the math, and this definitely needs more thought before I go tinkering with it.

      You've put your finger on the reason why I've been toying with the idea in the first place though -- the slow speed of the game in "real time." I don't want your PCs to be "stuck" at 1st level for too long. But on the other hand I also don't want to go overboard the other way.

      So yes, this is not something for me to switch lightly, as your example shows. I think for now we'll keep everything by the book, while I give it some more thought.

      One simple possibility is some less radical bump in monster xp (some "x percent" increase to all monster xp), accompanied by a proportional bump in discoverable treasure. I'll do some number crunching with a variety concrete scenarios, until I come up with something more reasonable.

      So for now we'll keep doing things by the book.

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    5. OOC: Some other options:
      -Change how level-up spending perks works. Perhaps change the amount of money needed to spend based on the new xp system. So instead of spending half the xp needed to next level, make it one quarter.
      -Simply give us more money. Instead of 2-3x monster xp, make it 5x. What would be your fears for more cash in PCs hands? As I see it, Gaven would probably spend to get the church perk and maybe the fighter perk and then make sure to have more holy water etc. And/or hire more hirelings. And/or perhaps we would pool money so that Oloc could make a bunch of scrolls. I don't think any of those things would break the game. Basically, as long as you don't open magic marts, the party would have more resources, but most of those resources would be expendable (scrolls, holy water, hirelings) or make the characters slightly better (perks).

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    6. OOC: Lol, I can be such a dunce! :)

      "Simply give us more money. Instead of 2-3x monster xp, make it 5x."

      This is such a straightforward solution, and one easily adjustable (if needed) without the risk of messing up other parts of the game. Sometimes I can't believe how easily I can overlook such a logical answer.

      "What would be your fears for more cash in PCs hands?"

      None at all, since you guys have to spend it for xp anyway.

      Seriously, how did I overlook such a clear solution?

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