Game Report 3 – Nobody died

Well, it appears that it’s only those blasted premades who were cursed, because once my players took the reins, they were able to handle an encounter or two. Mind, the encounters were written specifically for this group by me, and there were an appropriate number of monsters to players, and there were only two encounters, and everyone was in their right minds, and they still were worrying their little heads off about dying...

Ahem, so, after having a nice dinner at IHOP Saturday, T and N (because their roles are in flux right now, I’ll refer to all members by their first initials, since it works out everyone has a different enough name) came over and started rolling characters. Streamlined system or no, the process still takes just as long. It took them the hour-and-a-half before A and “friend” showed up to just get the ball rolling. Playing proper didn’t start until after 11, a good three or four hours after we started.

After getting together a small group consisting of a rogue, a ranger, a warlock (spellcaster who enters into a pact with dark forces), and a warlord (martial fighter who inspires and bosses around), I throw them all into a jail cell. I know, unfair, and I was asked a number of times how exactly they were captured. Short answer, they were sleeping, and when one member pointed out that the race she chose doesn’t sleep, I handwaved it away. Still, I needed them to fight goblins and make friendly, and it was the only thing I could think of in the limited time I had.

I had the goblins conveniently forget to relieve T’s rogue of two daggers, and an escape plan was quickly hatched. They busted down the door and took out the minions quickly and effectively, all the while being well aware that they were unarmed (almost obnoxiously so, avoiding all combat until they could get their hands on a weapon they knew how to use. Have to mind what I tell them, or they’ll stick by that rule for longer than needed). After a few moments spent being peppered by arrows, they ended their fight and got geared up, then snuck down the hallway for more carnage.

The next encounter was a little tougher, with a leader goblin and no one-hit kills. A’s friend dropped from the first attack, until we realized we forgot to tell her how to heal, so a freebie was granted, only to have her fall to the second attack. After a slight bit of panic, the rules finally clarified that any healing ability will revive a fallen ally (as long as it gave real hit points, not temporary), so a single “inspiring word” from the warlord got her standing again. I cannot stress enough how good this is. The number of times I’ve let healing potions be poured unceremoniously down someone’s throat just so everyone didn’t die is too high to count, and often the action ate a whole turn, allowing the baddie to make another deadly move, so putting in a method to get people moving without breaking tempo is greatly appreciated.

Anyway, they fought against two javelin chuckers, a badass fighter, and a support mage in an o-shaped room. The mobility of the javelin men with boosted attacks if they take four or more steps made those two deadly in the arena, helped greatly by the support caster’s “don’t move” ability. The badass fighter went down before getting a frenzied axe blow in, and then it became a game of chasing the ranged fighters around the room while trying to keep their hit points level. The ranger fell down again to those bloody javeliners, but they eventually burned down all involved, and decided that it was time to go home for the night.

Being nice, I let them escape their imprisonment to find themselves at the edge of the Impact, and they ran to the forest for safety and rest. What the Impact is, exactly, I haven’t told them, and what the forest looks like, they’ll be surprised to discover. Still, a good start, especially since they all left with limbs attached. Let’s hope we can make it another month or so before another TPK.