Feb 18, 2013

Inter Arma campaign session 1. - The valley


Gameplay on Saturday's campaign. Never had the opportunity to play this part of the rules, now I've had enough players. See the map of the environment above.

The party consists of six characters figures: one Paladin with offensive magic and defensive melee abilities; a healer (the Paladin's pocket healer) with the secondary ability Mind's Eye; a quick-handed archer with Poisons; the classic 'guy with the huge warhammer', defensive melee and Berserking; a mage with Teleporting, the best damage dealer in the group; and the 'other guy' who wears a fancy bronze breastplate and has melee abilities too.

The first day the players started fresh, rolled a 6, thus gaining one hex extra movement. They followed the road from the south to a junction, where a village lay. One of the villagers tasked the players with defending his crops against the bandits, which they did mercifully, instead of the mage's advice who said 'loot and burn the village'. I guess there always is this one player. The peasant could not offer any money but completing the quest gave a boost of XP, almost everyone nearing Level 2.

Day 2 they went into the woods to investigate a mysterious relic, rolling a 6 on movement again. The relic offered them a chance to roll on 1d12 and receive as many exp as they rolled (originally planned a bloody slaughter, but that next time). The rolls were low, so only half of the party managed to rank themselves past 20 XP, indicating level 2.  The Paladin could use his magic from now on. 

From the relic, they moved towards an old castle ruin, as it was slowly becoming dark. The ruins were, surprisingly, festering with bandits. The bandits left 3 sentries, the rest sleeping in tents. As the tents were narrow and dwelling 4 men each, I declared only two can leave it per turn.
The two melee guys were sneaking on the furthest tent, the rest moving in one group and planning to take the sentries out from a distance then set the tents on fire. The archer used his Quiver Draw move and still failed to hit the sentry. The sentry then rolled sighting dice and noticed the party, sounded the alarm. A fiery arrow now hit one of the tents, and the two bandits leaving said tent rushed to put it out. The mage ran towards them, used his AoE Blast, killed both. The tent still was in flames.
The two melee fighters beat off the next 3 attackers while the mage went on a rampage, teleporting out of distance then shooting all her spells. She alone killed 6 bandits. The rest of it was a stand-still and the healer had some of her use too (these two being the female figures in the game).
When they beat off the savages, a group of archers showed up from the shadows and asked them if they wanted to examine a campfire's smoke nearby. They decided to move on the next day, sheltering in the remaining two tents. They found some gold too.

The third day's encounter was tougher as the party was badly overpowered, even with the three archers present. However, the mage and the healer saved the day, the mage being especially effective when Blasting on five enemies around and killing four in an instant. When the bandits rolled saves, we told my brother #1 to roll as he's known to roll 1s and 2s all the time. Well that he did. 
The other winner was the archer who put arrows into opponents like a mad, bearded Robin Hood. What the players, however, found out, that this party of vagrants was led by four cultists who were Level 2 and put up a harder fight, in the end, all the ranged fighters combined could take them out with volleys. One of the players rolled a 1 on save, but the healer's spell prevented him from dying.
Examining the surroundings of the campfire, they have found a letter and further proof that the cultists were agents of some person, who alone organized the bandit attacks on nearby villages and wanted the whole of the valley taken. The letter hinted this someone lived to the north in the mountains. The archers rewarded them with 15 XP per kopf and asked the party if they would continue on their side, investigating this mysterious villain's causes and intentions. The party agreed 3 to 1 that they would go on, then one player left. 

I usually boosted the healer with further experience rewards as she was the last to kill anything. This way she's the 3rd most advanced in the party with 50 xp (80 needed for level 3), the first two being the archer and the mage with 51 and 60. The next session will hopefully have photos of the oncoming fights. On the other hand, I may include a 'pocket healer' mechanism, e.g. setting a primary target for a healer who shares XP after each kill, but the healer must stick to this one and focus less on others. I was the one who did not want to go with the archers but this way I can securely guide the party where I wish to. My only fear is they will be getting slaughtered by the BBEG and his higher level pals.

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