Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Let's roll. d37 for the win!

IC:

To quote the relevant section of the instructions:

Basically I picture [Larric] trying to do this.

Lightning arrow in the opening exchange of ranged fire, followed by a retreat back into a more covered position. If there's time from that he tries a repeat of the 'cold wind' he used against the deserters earlier that day, on the theory that a stiff blast of cold air in the face immediately before the armies close will hurt them more than it hurts us.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

If I remember rightly, what I had come up with as the procedure for d37 was d4 then d9, counting 0's if the d4 comes up 4- I didn't say it was elegant. Just an even random distribution. (a calculator RND function would be as good a bet, anyway.)

So, with increasing erraticity and unevenness as I welcome in the new year, what happens is...

the Valdemironi decide now or never, they have to get the staff back, it's worth a fight, and ten or so of them charge straight away to skirmish and stop the Ikhrani blob forming up properly, while the rest try to catch up and collect into an effective battle line.

The lightning arrow is loosed, hits one of the skirmishers- he gets his shield to it, but the arrow hits the shield boss. Which is made of metal, and conductive. Should be a wooden grip, but sometimes you find them with a metal bar across just to reinforce, and that channels the shock. He drops the shield and fals over clutching his arm, twitching and shaking.

One of his friends does try to get Larric before he can withdraw, but flubs it completely, his brain probably meant to step forard and swing the blade but he misjudges distance, swings- wildly, whistling through the air- then steps forward, and looks surprised as he realises he got it wrong.

Dale would have to run through an advancing group of skirmishers and push his way through a battle line to do that- the chances of getting surrounded and chibbed to bits are notably high. Gets a shot off, which thunks solidly into a shield, but there's the one that just went for Larric and missed right in front of you.

Dirt?

Happy new year, by the way.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

I'd have rolled d4-1 for tens place, d10 for ones, reroll any results over 37. But that's me.

What was the context for a d37 roll, anyway?

Also, since it IS actually January 1 in Scotland as I write this, happy new year to ECR and Kaelan!

IC:

Larric leaps back in surprise, empty crossbow wheeling and voice crying out in startlement as he realizes just how close the Valdemironi skirmisher got while he was lining up his shot.

"Wh-AAH!"

[I always imagine Larric's dodges looking a bit comical; less calmly-sidestepping-the-inbound and more holy-crap-what-was-that-pointy-death]

He's got electricity on the mind and the range is literally point-blank. Larric starts walking quickly crabwise backward, keeping his eye on the swordsman (?) coming toward him and trying to keep a pace or two of distance- out of lunge range, in other words. He can probably see Dale (hopefully) closing on the skirmisher from the side. The alchemist's right hand is full of crossbow; he raises his left arm and thinks current, willing a jolt of charge-carriers out and across the air-gap into the Valdemironi's center of mass.

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale will close on that skirmisher all right. He'll stab and slash, coming around to face the next skirmisher. Dale's goal is cut down a couple of these goons and prevent them from successfully hampering the Irkhani group's own battle line. A moment of curiosity passes his consciousness as he considers that he somehow knows a little bit about this kind of fighting... then he dives in, looking to make as much of an impressive and effective show as he can.

[Kaelan]

If he see's Larric jump back, Dirt will move in to disengage Larric from his opponent. "We need to get free of fight. This looks like distraction from priest goal."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The reason you might need a d37 is if you have a skill that high; for numbers over twenty, you roll against the full value of your skill rather than some kind of end cap. This means that there is some thin chance for low skilled PC's and NPC's to get lucky- no matter how good you are, there's always the last enemy, overconfidence. ( I wanted to make high skills worth investing in without making them so dominant that it isn't worth low skilled characters trying. And I must have been feeling particularly numerological that day.)

Dale's actually fractionally faster; manages to get to the skirmisher before Larric does, as the skirmisher turns to face Larric Dale blidsides him and gets the tip of his sword in the skirmisher's armpit, and steps forward into it basiocaly pushing the sword ahead of him, out of the skirmisher's back.

Larric does manage to just in time aim away from Dale, whoi has leapt into his line of sight, and direct the bolt of current at someone else;
one of the skirmishers, who things having got a bit disordered in the midfield, is actualy slightly behind Dale, realises this, glances round, too busy to see, tries to stab Dale in the side, but the shock hits the temple guard skirmisher and drops him stunned to the ground.

Lisanna doesn't have an immediate target, but she's still holding the staff she took; looks at the situation, says to Dirt and Larric 'They're going to follow this, let's see if we can get them to make a mistake.'

Dirt says his thing,

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale withdraws the sword from the dead skirmisher and sweeps it into the shocked guard on the ground, intending to finish him off too.

If there is time: "Run to the side and if they follow let our force flank them?"

If there is no time he keeps pace with Lisanna and tries to pull Larric along with him. He trusts Dirt will do what is best. And also he can't pull an Ogre.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

The reason you might need a d37 is if you have a skill that high; for numbers over twenty, you roll against the full value of your skill rather than some kind of end cap.

So, success is more or less guaranteed, but you still have a real chance of only beating your skill score by 4 points and losing to some relative novice who beat his score by 8 points?

IC:

Lisanna doesn't have an immediate target, but she's still holding the staff she took; looks at the situation, says to Dirt and Larric 'They're going to follow this, let's see if we can get them to make a mistake.'

Dirt says his thing,

Dale withdraws the sword from the dead skirmisher and sweeps it into the shocked guard on the ground, intending to finish him off too.

If there is time: "Run to the side and if they follow let our force flank them?"

If there is no time he keeps pace with Lisanna and tries to pull Larric along with him. He trusts Dirt will do what is best. And also he can't pull an Ogre.

Larric doesn't need to be tugged, unless both the others are running faster than him- possible but the difference is likely to be marginal; Dale is in noticeably better shape than Larric, but not that much, and as I recall has experienced a bit more physical abuse over the past several days. Lisanna might well be a bit fresher physically (or not), but she's not the one tugging him along.

He will follow Dale's plan, or a modification thereof. Larric normally sees an enemy and thinks about how to go straight at him, but clever plans appeal to his intellect and he's usually happy to play along.

However, Larric does glance at the sides of the area we appear to occupy (I'm guessing a crossroads, with the Valdemironi having come down a curved street to fall upon us?) and asks:

"Is there room?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

On dice procedures, yes, there would be a theoretical margin of failure- but on the other hand you might get lucky and roll a two, leaving the other guy with the impossible task of trying to get thirty- six points under a skill of fourteen. Murphy is always with us, but being skilled gives you if not exactly insurance, then at least a better chance.

Also, I have been PM'd, and we should have a new player; Jub. This would actually be a good time for him to introduce himself, so take it away.



That plan is what Lisanna had in mind as well, she's had to sheathe one of her swords to carry the staff; knowing she may have to fight with it, she looks about for something to do with the staff, and ends up handing it to Fifi, Dirt's carnivorous plant. This may turn out to be an astonishingly bad idea.

You start moving off to the flank, the valdemironi move, the Ikhrani move to intercept them, and you find yourselves next to- (Jub, your cue.)

[Jub]

The party would find themselves next to a man with a (I'm assuming 5'11" 200lb. is above average size) larger than average frame carrying a war axe in one hand and a round center grip shield in the other. A closer look would reveal him as somebody just on the right side of forty, dressed in a surprisingly well made wool cloak. A closer listen might pick out the jingle of his mail coat as he shuffles off to follow him.

Bertram can see that the people who've ran over in his direction are clearly the ones in charge and he asks, "Is there anything I can be doing to help here, besides the obvious?"

[Simon_Jester]

Does Larric recognize this man as one of the militia column-blob-thing, or is he a seemingly random person who just happens to have been in the area? What he says would depend on this.

[Jub]

I think he would have been caught up in the blob having joined up after arguing with himself about the good he could do out in the streets versus trying to defend his home. He's also pretty charismatic, so it's possible that his charm might overcome Laric's doubts even if he hadn't spotted me prior to this.

Also, should I post my sheet here or just leave it in the PM's?

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

We don't actually need to know more than "he's a beefy guy, tall but not freakishly so, with an axe, wearing chainmail;" I assume he's reasonably good in a fight, but if not, that's Bertrand's problem, not ours.

Also, Larric doesn't charm easily; he's capital-S Stubborn when he feels like someone's trying to gimmick, flimflam, bamboozle, or sell him on something.

IC:

1) Larric doesn't recognize man-with-axe, BUT
2) Larric has a general rule that he'd rather have any given man-with-axe on his side, plus he doesn't actually have the world's greatest memory for faces so it's quite possible this guy's with the militia and everyone but Larric knows it; Larric is from out of town.

The alchemist waves an arm at Lisanna, who might be recognized as the baron's court wizard, and says "The Valdemironi priests bewitched the townsfolk to make them riot! We need to stop this lot long enough to break the spell!"

That's about all the time he can spare for the stranger; Larric tries to keep an eye on the fight and what's going on. Is there any evidence of magic being used on the Valdemironi side, or are priests relying on cold steel and someone else's courage?

OOC:

I sometimes play games with myself, trying to think how Larric would describe any given situation- accurately and truthfully as he sees it, usually succinctly, but with almost no words of more than two syllables. He's a very intelligent and moderately educated autodidact, but his basic personality is pretty well set by the fact that he's a grammar school dropout.

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale scans Bertrand for a moment, then goes back to looking at the Valdemironi host. He's looking for movement from them, particularly a group "clever" enough to try and flank toward the 'heroes' to recover the staff. They'll be among the most skilled and putting them down stands a good chance of breaking the fighting will of the others.

"The temple of Valdemiron stirred up this trouble. They are attempting a coup and have already started bloodshed to achieve it. If you see a priest or acolyte of Valdemiron, kill or maim them."

Sword in right hand, throwing knife in left, Dale is ready to follow his own advice.

[Jub]

"Alright, so are we just killing Valdemironi until things settle down or is there some sort of leader we need to beat down?" Asks Bertram as he readies axe and shield and steps up next to Dale to form a front line against the Valdemironi host.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Yes, post the character sheet- I've given up trying to keep such things secret. One of these days I must put up some of the NPC's, too; the sticking point is scraping off the layers of XP they've accumulated and remembering what they were like way back when.

(Speaking of 37's, the highest thing I think a group have ever had to roll against was a major ritual, many, many lunatic adventures down the line from where you are so no details, but it was big- the end of a plot arc, fate of nations in the balance- many people assisting and supporting, and the catch was that the object and desired outcome really wasn't what most of the participants had been told it was going to be. After the dust from the polyvalent dodectuple- crossing had settled, it was an opposed 92 against 101.)


Bertrand would already know that the priests of the chief of the gods, Valdemiron, have been throwing their weight around; in the baron's absence they have been trying to take control, and not making themselves well liked- the nobles were slightly worse.

Open warfare in the streets is definitely a step too far. As far as fighting will goes, there are two in full plate, but only the older one of them looks comfortable in it; rough guess, veteran, face not familiar- from Auvaine?- and novice hurriedly promoted to templar. They're easy to spot, because they're looking at you. The older one points towards most of the Ikhrani militia, and the younger one heads in that direction with about a third of their men; then the rest start moving in your direction, the surviving skirmishers fall into line with them.

Some are still coming up, and Bertrand has a small group of people he knows, some of them customers, following him. This is still only a detachment from the overall force.

Lisanna is already moving, down the left hand side- street; inviting pursuit, trying to draw them out.

[Jub]

Name: Bertram Shepard

Age: 34
Sex: Male
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 200lb.
Skin: Caucasian
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Other: Beard, Pocks from a disease in is youth

Social attributes-
Temper 14, Fellowship 14, Charm 15

Mental attributes-
Logic 10, Creativity 10, Education 10

Physical attributes-
Strength 13, Endurance 12, Agility 10

Advantages:
-3ap Ally, his former militia mates who aren't as adventure ready as he is, but who are still willing to get into a bit of trouble now and again.
-2ap Relationship, a serving maid who he can trust to run the inn while he's away.
-2ap Local Reputation, he's an innkeeper whom everybody likes and people count him as a good man to be owed a favor by.
-1ap Empathy, he's always had a slight skill at reading people but he's never really developed it.
-2ap Wealth, he's got some savings stashed away that were going to re-roofing and putting a new coat of paint on the inn.

Disadvantages:
-3ap Sense of Honor, he doesn't leave his friends out to dry. This means he's the guy you call at 3am when you get yourself stranded doing something stupid after a night of drinking, he doesn't ask why he just asks 'how can I help?' When he can't do this he tends to get pretty down on himself until he can make up for it.
-3ap Duty, he has to return to his inn someday and that also means replacing the nest egg that he's taking with him on his adventure.
-3ap Phobia, he hates crossing streams that don't have a sturdy bridge across them and has never learned how to swim. He tries to avoid fording streams and taking ferries if at all possible and will be at extreme disadvantage if ambushed in such a situation.
-1ap Enemy, he's banned a local of some importance from his common room and the guy still holds a stiff grudge.

Skills:

Temper: Determination 15, Resist Magic 9, Resist Persuassion 12
Fellowship: Bargain 15, Human Perception 12, Leadership 9
Charm: Banter 12, Con 15, Persuasion 10

Logic: Economics 7, Perception 10, Politics 5
Creativity: Inspire 10, Tactics 9
Education: Craft (Brewer) 10, Culture (Local) 8, Business 5

Strength: Axe 12, Brawl 8, Shield 11
Endurance: Resist Injury 14, Survival 10
Agility: Riding 10, Dodge 9

Gear: Shield, Axe, Chainmail, Travelling Gear, Fancy Clothes, Riding Horse and Saddle Bags

-----

The gist of this character is that he's a militiaman who went to battle, came back with some loot, and opened an inn in the town we're currently playing in. Adventure has found him again, and he intends to seek a bit more glory while he still can.

-----

Bertram moves along in the rear guard of the party calling out to the friends and customers that have chosen to follow him; barking out, "Keep up with us and stay alive. We'll have enough to bury come morning as it is without adding any from our group."

To any that threaten to fall behind he drops back to them and urges them onward with 'it's just a little further' and 'I've seen you move quicker carrying a bundle of wood'.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Larric and this guy are gonna hopefully should get along really well.

By the way, drawing from the last time I had to describe Larric to a new player:



Larric isn't this well dressed, his hair's beginning to re-mess after at least basic ablutions around noon, and he's a good deal dirtier. Aside from that, he looks about like this fellow, only a lot more stressed.

Middling height, looks decently well fed, but without any great bulk or sleekness to him- not a physically powerful or particularly graceful man. Shrewd, angry eyes, and if Bertram's got a touch of empath in him, then he gets a distinct feeling off Larric. The alchemist-wizard very devoutly wishes there were a way to wield Truth like a club right now.

OOC MK II:

Brewer? Interesting. Larric does distilled liquors. Badly. Very, very badly. They're best used as disinfectants; as I recall he's exhausted his hip flask doing exactly that.

IC:

ECR, I'm afraid your description of the tactical situation has me confused as to what to do.

So... roughly a third of the Valdemironi force is trying to tie up the Ikhrani militia, while two thirds comes after us? Hoo boy. And how many Valdemironi were there in the first place, eighty?

Who do we have on our side? Are any Ikhrani militia immediately around us, or is it just the party, Lisanna, and Bertram's old friends?

If it looks like we're about to be isolated and hammered by a knightish-priesty fellow leading fifty men against us, Larric shouts "run!" and jogs off in the same direction Lisanna's going.

For now, at least- he might change his mind about that if things get much weirder. He respects Lisanna quite a bit, but he doesn't know enough about what she's doing with that staff to fully understand why it's worth taking risks to lead the Valdemironi all over the place.

[Jub]

OOC: Is my character's inn located anywhere close enough that Bertram could conceivably shout, 'This way!' and lead them to a more defensible position?

OOC 2: Bertram should be easy enough to get along with, and he's not the sort to tolerate much by way of serious nonsense. Though he does enjoy swapping the old fish that got a way type of exaggerated story every now and again.

For filling that flask, I think if we make it through this, drinks will be on the house for the party.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Yes, but there's a good chance it would go disastrously wrong, for the reason that they are after someone and trying to retrieve something in particular. Specifically, the staff that the carnivorous plant who lives in the plantpot attached to the back of the ogre's shield is now holding. The staff does have the Valdemironi holy symbol of crown and mailed fist at the tip, so that's probably why they want it back.

What's happening; from a head on clash, Lisanna read the battlefield, and tried to move to the flank so the Valdemironi would go after her, and expose themselves to being hit side on in their turn by the Ikhrani militia. The priest the staff used to belong to is dead, and the heavy- armoured ones have had a chance to catch up, so the quality of their leadership has actually improved slightly; they see this move happening, and react to it by leaving a screen to slow down the militia and the bulk of them trying to stop you before you can get away.

It does mean there are fewer of them to chase you, but not by much- and that the Valdemironi are willing to take the risk to get the staff back.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Several questions:

-About how many people does Bertram have with him anyway?
-About how many Ikhrani militia were there, anyway? I seem to recall the number "two hundred" being thrown around, in which case Senior Valdemironi Templar might be making a serious mistake setting a platoon-ish force to try and delay them. On the other hand, fat lot of good that does us now that we're separated from the militia main body. [Glares angrily at Lisanna]
-Is Lisanna headed for the wizards' guild, or some other way?

IC:

If Lisanna is leading us to the wizards' guild, Larric tries to keep pace while puffing out: "Sure hope... the wizards... help us..."

If Lisanna is not leading us to the wizards' guild and is instead running off with the staff in a random direction purely to draw out the Valdemironi pursuers, Larric tries to keep pace while puffing out: "This... daft... need backup... or split... them up more..."

In that latter case, he also changes the 'stop following Lisanna' option from being Plan C to being Plan B on his mental list. He already knew she was a bit crazy, but there's 'insufficient regard for personal safety' and then there's 'going to get us all killed with bad plans.'

[And yes, everything I've ever seen about Lisanna makes it clear how and why she would act this way- she certainly gives off an impression of being prone to "we must do something, this dangerous self-sacrificing act is something, therefore we must do it."

[Kaelan]

"Alright, so are we just killing Valdemironi until things settle down or is there some sort of leader we need to beat down?"

Dirt Shrugs, "Killed last leader, new one over there" - indicating the replacement who wants his stick back. "Best kill all of them until they get idea to go away."

So, 80 of them vs 4 (3? is larric with us, or chasing after the mad woman). 20 each, so we can get worried if they get some more help. What we really need is a nice narrow street to use as an impromptu pass to place the odds into our favour (preferable with a nice vantage point for bow fire from our side).

Looking at the short man with the baby axe Dirt asks Bertrand "know a good street to fight in?" He'll also warn Fifi not to chew too much on her new stick...

OOC
Hi Jub, welcome to the party!

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Wait WHAT.

Sorry that this is another one of my 'trimmer' posts, but now I'm really unclear on what's happening. I had interpreted Fiji's comments to suggest that Dale, at least, was going along with Lisanna's attempt to draw the Valdemironi soldiers well away. Now I see Dirt (sensibly, IMO) seemingly deciding to strike out on his own, allowing himself to be swept away from the Ikhrani militia but not staying with Lisanna.

Let me lay out what I think Larric will do, IF I understand the situation.

Our attempt to sidle out onto the flank has resulted in the Valdemironi being able to cut us off from the Ikhrani militia. We cannot easily rejoin them, so Lisanna has decided to run. The bulk of the Valdemironi force is following her.

My impression is that we're more or less between her (and the staff) and the fifty Valdemironi chasing her. Meanwhile, thirty Valdemironi are between us and the militia.

So we can't rejoin the militia, nor can we easily get out of the way of the fifty Valdemironi. If we don't follow Lisanna, those fifty men are going to stomp all over us in hot pursuit of the sorceress. As far as Larric can tell, the only thing to do is run in the same direction Lisanna's going, at least for a while. So he'd start doing that.

This cycles back to...




IC OPTION A:

If Lisanna is leading us to the wizards' guild, Larric tries to keep pace while puffing out: "Next time... stay with... own army... sure hope... the wizards... help us..."

If Lisanna is not leading us to the wizards' guild and is instead running off with the staff in a random direction purely to draw out the Valdemironi pursuers, Larric tries to keep pace while puffing out: "Next time... stay with... own army... this... daft... need backup... or split... them up more..."

[puffing-out dialogue revised]
___________________________

OOC:

Alternatively, I may have misunderstood what the situation on the ground looks like, in the moment Larric makes the decision. Maybe there is a third way for us to take, which allows us to get out of the way of the fifty Valdemironi, without following Lisanna.

IC OPTION B:

If Dirt starts to take that third way, then... hm. Larric has another brief moment of indecision, then- he'd probably follow Dirt, unless Dale is running off to follow Lisanna, in which case he'd follow Dale.

[Jub]

Still running along Bertram would love to know what the plan is, but thus far there has been far too much running and chaos to get a complete answer from anybody. Still he has figured out that, the plan, such as it is, involves keeping this staff away from the Valdemironi and that they won't be able to run forever. Dirt asks a question that gets Bertram thinking, he'd be too caught up trying to figure out how to help that he hadn't been doing much to actually help thus far.

"There should be something not too far ahead..." Bertram calls out to the massive creature addressing him.

Then he calls out to his followers again, "Keep up this pace, I need to catch up the woman in front and see where she's running too."

With that he leaves the rear of the group and sprints up towards Lisanna where, starting to get a bit winded from running in mail he hasn't worn in near a decade, he calls out in snatches, "If you don't... Have a place... In mind... I might know... a spot... where we can... have their numbers... count for less."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

I think you're assuming things are happening faster than they actually are.

I'm assuming much of that confusion is occurring in Larric's head, which is actually a fairly good place for it. Lisanna isn't running; she's sort of ambling tactically. She may run for it in a second, but not yet, for there is a plan. It may be a horribly dangerous plan and you may be right to yell at her about it, but it is a plan.

Think how fast groups move, how fast formations move if they want to keep any kind of formation, any kind of tactical order; you're faster than an organised group of troops. (Shield walls don't jog. Break up into open order to move quickly, tuck in again to stand and fight.) You're not cut off, at this point I wish I could post a tactical map, it can't be as simple as drawing it in mspaint and posting it in the [img ] tags, can it?

She's not trying to draw the Valdemironi temple guard away, she's taking advantage of how desperate they are to get the staff back and trying to get them to pursue at all costs, opening their flank and making themselves easy meat for the Ikhrani militia.

They are desperate but not stupid, and mean to leave a screen of twenty to thirty men (surviving skirmishers making the difference) to cover that flank, and come at you with the rest. At the moment you are still with the militia, at the right, northern, flank of the Ikhrani line, at a crossroads made larger by the cleared site where a building was pulled down and the materials scavenged- uneven ground but theoretically clear.

Lisanna handed the staff off to give herself a free hand to wield her blades with; I wouldn't say knee jerk, must do something, that's closer to deVerett actually. Mainly it's that she has an adventurer's reduced sensitivity to risk, and believes that desperate times call for desperate meaures.