Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Simon_Jester]

Larric mutters to the others as they cross through the alley: "Guess they're not fools enough after all. Pity. Where do we lead them now?" Larric may actually have criss-crossed more of the town than the others; he's been out on shopping runs and explicitly out of the castle more. He starts thinking about areas that, at this time of day, would be... ahha.

He's heading for an area which rebuilding hasn't quite got to yet- there almost have to be some, seeing as how most people are still living under crowded conditions.

Though we move slowly at first, to make sure we don't lose the tail.

[Fiji_Fury]

There is a space at the castle where we are planning to stay, yes? If so, Dale lets the Priest of Valdemiron know that is where he can be found. Dale thanks the Priest graciously then withdraws.

[Kaelan]

Where do we lead them now?

Dirt's solution is more pragmatic, "We go get them and take men to alley for question. If they no come, break legs and take them. Make talking easier."

[Simon_Jester]

"I hope I'm not wrong about who they are... Sir Alfred, maybe you'd better do the talking when we try to reel them in."

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Do ballistae exist in Qulan?)

He says, with a little smile, "I shall." If we are moving towards them, when they have dragged into the alley, he will ask, while dangling them by the neck and slammed against the wall, "Who sent you?! Talk while you still have a jaw!"

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Er, I assume we're not skipping the step where we actually grab them and haul them in?

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: We're not skipping that step. I'm just putting that out in advance. I wasn't sure if we were moving towards them or not.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Of course ballistae exist; Dirt's carrying one. More or less. Problem I have is that I'm basically a dark age type, and siege artillery, what's that? Ambuscade, starvation or treachery are the usual methods of reducing a fortified place, and I'm a bit hazy on the terminology until we get to the early gunpowder era.

Dale manages to make his withdrawal, but for one reason; there's someone's horse tied up at the gate as he goes out, and it has heraldry. Memory says "meh", but worth taking a note of for later description to the rest of the party. There's another scheme afoot, that the noise and trouble of eliminating a stray priest of Dnor would probably endanger; note the colours to at least later figure out who, if not exactly what.

In the alley, the question is how much fuss you want to make taking them. Shouting and banging may not be that brilliant an idea, and breaking legs, if you happen to get the wrong people, could be slightly troublesome. (Remember, incidentally, most of Alfred's money is going to be going on wergild.) There's a simple solution, and as Simon brought up earlier, Fifi has six XP to spend now because Kaelan keeps forgetting. Hint, hint.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Oh. Oh, no. I was thinking about using it against infantry and cavalry. That and stuff like the hwacha. Things to think about for the far future. It's mostly along the lines of how to use physical means to disrupt magic. Thought process was "Hi, mass coordinated singing magical kajiggers. I'd like you to meet my friend, arrow storm." Was thinking about javelins but they're heavier and don't have as much range so thoughts of peltasts against cavalry don't work so hot.)

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Honestly, I would not want to try to fight the Twentieth without 20th-century weapons; they're well equipped to fight a purely conventional war, and all their magical abilities are just extra gravy.

Also, good point. Kaelan?

[Kaelan]

OOC - anybody remember where ECR posted fifi's original stats?

[Simon_Jester]

Found it here:

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 8#p3661878

So here's her stat line...

Young semi- sentient carnivorous plant, bite 10 dv 8, sting (prickly like a nettle) 14, dv 5+ paralytic poison, dr 4 wounds 3, perception (heat, smell) 14;

Wish I knew what dv and dr meant.

[Kaelan]

More work for our DM - ECR
I know how XP spend works on PC's, how does it work on plants? does fifi have skills, etc like the rest of us?

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Heh. Yeah, more paperwork, but I find myself honestly curious about some of the recordkeeping and mechanics that goes into a system like this. One thing I like about this thread is that ECR segregates gameplay and story almost totally, and lets the descriptive language take care of telling us what happens while the dice work happens all on his end.*

But it's a little embarrassing to realize that I probably wouldn't be able to read Larric's character sheet if he waved it in front of my nose...

*His hobby probably helps, I know I wouldn't be able to describe the fight choreography like this.

[Kaelan]

OOC:

Its the golden rule 'Never let the rules get in the way of a good story', similar to the old navy saying of "never let the truth stand in the way of a good dit....."

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

I quite agree- but, well, physics background; I derive active enjoyment from knowing the rules. Just my personal twitches.

[Simon_Jester]

So, uh... how DOES Kaelan go about spending XP on Fifi? What capabilities of the plant is he trying to enhance? And what are we going to do with it?

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Yeah, that's what I'm waiting on at the moment. By the way, are there any forces in Qulan with massed pikes for anti-cavalry? Thinking of pike squares holding archers inside or perhaps in front protecting archers.)

[Simon_Jester]

OOC: Lovely idea, probably very well known in the warfare of this society. The real problem, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, is stopping the enemy from raining fireballs down on your formation.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Sorry- I was away from home, staying with relatives, with only an unreliable and dubious mobile device that decided 0.5 out of 2 was enough. Bloody kindle...

anyway, to catch up with some of this, dv is damage value, dr is damage reduction; when you hit somebody, it's the amount you beat the minimum by- how far under your skill you were- plus the damage of the weapon, plus your own damage bonus based on a derived value from strength and agility; less their armour, and their damage reduction (which is derived from endurance and temper, basically how well the character can take the pain and keep going); as not a full player character, as a companion/monster, Fifi gets a functional stat line that is essentially skills and derived values only. Most gribblies have similar stat lines.

Spending XP for companion things needed to be revamped anyway- it wasn't previously as closely tied to the attribute block as it is now; it was simpler, but not as closely coupled- it made the actual abilities and talents matter less. Buy up mental abilities as if she had a default of 3, physical abilities as if she had a default of 4.

Massed pikes, pike squares, etc; yes...but. Fighting with, or against, magic- thaumaturgical and religious- is essentially a matter of heroes, numbers don't count nearly as much as quality; on a more conventional battlefield, those small elites- like knights, exactly in fact- are going to be cut down by groups of organised soldiery relatively easily. Said soldiery being largely helpless against well organised military thaumaturgy.

Which leads to an interesting balance of power, where it might be perfectly possible to rise up and overthrow the aristocratic order- but then die in all sorts of horrifying ways when the wizards decide thaumocratic dictatorship has it's good points. Usually what you have is knights and similarly resistant at the head of relatively conventional units, to give them some resistance, and a few unattached as basically a hit team.

Of the actual individual wizards you've met so far, not many of them by head count do present that kind of devouring threat, to be honest; although the ones that do are definitely the easiest to remember. The countess, obviously. Njal, although oddly he's not really a murderer by temperament. There are at least three elvish warlords who could do a superb job of laying waste, and if three sounds like a balance the PC's might be called upon to place a thumb on the scales of, you may be right- but that's a plotline to grow into.

Aburon and Lisanna, to an extent that actualy worries even them- one of these days I will post his character sheet, all of it full of honestly earned XP. She could do terrible things, although not without regret, not without forethought, and not without first having to be persuaded that they were in fact the lesser evil. You have, without being aware of it, crossed paths with a dark elf warrior priestess who will become very important later on; but probably not meet, until you have at least a faint chance of not being manipulated into intricately shaped pretzels.

The average well brought up and civic- minded guild affiliated wizard, or priest in good standing, really isn't the sort to reduce battlefields to calderas, cities to crematoria; may be able to provide some measure of shielding or defence, but for might and mayhem, look to the rogues.

Anyway, this alley. Who's going up it and who's doubling round to intercept?

[Simon_Jester]

So the object is, what, get in close with our shadowers and anesthesize them unconscious with Fifi? Or at least nab one of them? Trick is going to be getting Dirt and the plant close, we may have to sucker them in around a corner or something.

Larric looks to Sir Alfred, he's the tactician.

Or am I confused about how ECR pictures this working?

[Kaelan]

Alternatively, Dirt could approach directly and Larric\Alfred could hit them from behind with Fifi as she is in a plant pot.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Larric is thinking this over- this actually occured to me, and since Panzer's not weighing in yet:

IC:

"Doesn't Fifi have a knockout bite... hm. I don't think they're fool enough to get in arm's reach of you, but maybe if I went one way with the plant, and you two went the other without, they'd split and we could draw one of them to get conked out? Or they'd follow me and you could come up behind them?"

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: A combination of thinking of the idea after a late hockey game and overly zealous parents prevented me from posting this last night. I'll add a bit more, too.)

"Close to what I was thinking of. Larric, you were to act as a lure while I remained in the alley to knock any out. Dirt, you were to go around with Fifi since you know her best. I doubt they'd want a fight with an ogre so you could encourage them to go into the alley. I considered throwing Fifi at them but I get the feeling she would not be very happy about that."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Right, let's see what happens; they know they've been spotted- are not going to step into that alley- and are no longer likely to take the bait.

Dirt can track them easily- he's far above most of the crowd for a start- and they have apparently decided you are too strong to fight directly. They're not moving as fast as they could be, and seem to be looking for someone to bribe or con into helping them; (dumb luck)- they choose to try to bribe a group trying to rebuild a house to help them.

This works very well for them for all of twenty seconds. You are starting to acquire a reputation, and one of the people helping with the reconstruction work is an acolyte of Ikhran. Nod, smile, wait until they think they have a deal, shovel to the back of the head.

That actually turned out to be unexpectedly easy. Now that you've had them basically handed yo you, how are you going to go about it? "in the middle of the street" isn't the most discreet option- but is discration the right thing here?