Game Report - A quiet evening

Apparently everybody was busy this weekend, because only two people showed up for D&D this week. Which is fine, considering the circumstances that hit those who could not attend and the fact that time still is needed to learn how to play. Still, there isn’t a hell of a lot two people can do, so there was a great amount of winging it going on.

N and T were the players. After a few minutes talking about video games, it was decided that they should both play two characters, so that a decent-sized party was assembled. T played both the rogue he rolled last weekend, and the wizard he rolled during the week, to see which he liked better. N played his warlock, and also took up A’s warlord mantle, so they had some kind of healing if needed.

Let me rephrase: because it was desperately needed.

They got themselves comfortable in the horrible post-apocalyptic world I’ve set for them, and decided the best option would be to head towards Alreta. Even it was full of liars and cheats, at least it was much more hospitable than near the Impact. They decided to skirt against the edge of the Black Plains and the Glass Forest before heading straight north at the Salt City, the rationale being that’s a likely trading route. They begin to track that way, and I set up the board.

One of these days I’m going to set up the board and have them mill about it aimlessly for an hour and a half without an encounter in site. That will be a boring day, however, which is why I’m putting it off. Still, setting up the board is pretty much an instant indication that they will be rolling initiative in the very near future. Suspense doesn’t work with such elaborate set-up time required.

It appears that the goblins they met earlier weren’t done yet, and since they all failed their “see the damn goblins in the trees” check, they were ambushed, which severely hampered the group because I couldn’t seem to roll under a 10. For the whole damn night. They manage well enough, although every PC fell down at least once, and the goblin archers turned out to be a huge pain in the ass. Eventually, after the defeat of the goblins, they decided to get away from the obscuring woods before something scarier popped out.

They marched across the field to a black temple, and come across a robot with a guitar on its back. The robot, upon seeing them, takes out a rolled up blanket and unrolls it, then immediately sits down. Bizarre, sure. Specifically, it was a warforged bard named Teman, once a minstrel for the Court of Ar, who is able to wander the land relatively unharmed due to his unique appearance and has decided to become a merchant. They bought a couple of potions from him, positive that they’d see him again, and were off to the temple.

The temple, once home of Avandra, was now a temple dedicated to some snakelady, and now home to some cute little drakes. Cute, little, deadly drakes. I’ve found my first gorilla bear (a gorilla bear is defined as a monster that seems reasonable but actually a bit too powerful for its level) in the guard drake and the needledrake swarm, who, although supposedly handleable by some level 1’s, synergize too well and end up kicking so much player ass. The guard drake is a bitch because if it’s within two spaces of an ally, its damage spikes quickly without any recourse if you don’t know the source, and the needledrake swarm are given a self-contained one-two punch that not only doubles the damage of its attacks, but also keeps the PCs grounded, unable to get away from the cat-sized lizards. Considering the flavor of the creature, it’s reasonable, but not Lv. 2 reasonable. These two gorilla bears combined with poor maneuverability and little planning led to the deaths of both of Todd’s characters (which will not stick, because all PC deaths need at least four witnesses) and left everyone involved with a sick feeling. I duex-exed some reason why everyone didn’t die and we called it a night, hoping everyone will see fit to show up next weekend.

Things I learned: Despite their assurances to the contrary, this new edition is not as well-tested as it needs to be. I don’t know why I assumed it would be; I’ve found a fair number of misspellings and design errors already, but I’m going to have to give it a gentler touch. For example: 2d10+4 damage is probably a bad idea for a basic attack, and I’m going to have to reel that in a bit when I see it. Also, despite being tagged patently awesome by 3rd edition standards, 4E characters are still weak against 4E monsters. It’ll take a level or two before these guys break in their sealegs.

Also, a plot would help. Gotta get me one of those; walk myself down to the Plot Emporium.