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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2017 22:29:06 GMT -8
So I promised an example encounter to show how balance works out in encounters. As this will be my first attempt I'm going to keep it small. The setup is this:
Knowing the section of the King's road that has been targeted and that the bandits never strike in broad daylight, Ser Raymond ensures he will be traveling through there at dusk. Riding, shotgun (even though that term doesn't exist yet), is Ser Raymond's squire Bixby. Inside the carriage with our knight are the two men at arms with their crossbows. Stat blocks to follow:
Ser Raymond is our only Wild Card/PC in this encounter. As a Knight, he has: Agility D8 Stength D8 Brawn D8 Smarts D4 Spirit D6 Fighting D8 Riding D8 Persuasion D6 Shooting D6 Climbing D4 Knowledge (Battle) D4 Notice D4 Survival D4 Swimming D4 Edges: Knight (Fantasy Companion) Parry: 6 (+2 w/Medium Shield) Toughness: 6 (+2 for chainmail or +3 for Pot Helm)
Bixby is an Extra. He has: Agility D6 Stength D6 Brawn D6 Smarts D6 Spirit D6 Fighting D6 Notice D6 Riding D6 Climbing D4 Shooting D4 Survival D4 Swimming D4 Parry: 5 (+1 for rapier) Toughness 5 (+1 for Leather Armor)
The Coachman will have: All stats D6 Riding D8 Notice D6 Fighting D4 Repair D4 Parry: 4 Toughness 5
Our Men At Arms will have: All stats D6 Fighting D6 Notice D6 Shooting D6 Parry 5 (+1 for rapier, +1 for small shield) Toughness 5 (+1 for leather armor or +3 for pot helm)
Our bandits will mirror our men at arms, except that they'll have a D6 intimidate as well and be using different weapons.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2017 22:49:54 GMT -8
Our scene opens at the point where cards are dealt for initiative. The coach has been forced to stop because of a tree in the road. It isn't long after that the bandits show themselves and demand everyones valueables. Their demands are simple, everyone gets out of the coach and doesn't do anything dumb, and everyone gets to live. Backing up this claim are two bandit bowmen and four men with assorted weapons (axes, swords, etc).
Ser Raymond's player draws the King of Spades (he'll be playing himself and all the allies) The archers get a Two of Hearts and the rest of the bandits get a Three of Spades.
Ser Raymond and his allies go first. Not wanting to be caught unawares, Ser Raymond draws his longsowrd in preparation for combat. Both men at arms cock and load their crossbows. Both Bixby and the Coachman hold still as the bandits approach, holding their actions.
Next up are the regular bandits. As this is an ambush, they already have their weapons in hand. They approach to 5" away from the coach and give their ultimatum. "Get down off of there and we won't leave you dead on the side of the road!" "Yeah, don't be stupid, boy!"
Two of our bandits are making intimidation rolls in a test of wills. One is vs the coachman, the other is vs Bixby. Bandit 1 rolls his Inimidate skill of D6 and gets an ace for a total of 11. The coachman rolls his spirit to try and resist at D6. Neither side gets a bonus since one is armed, but the other knows this is a trap! Our coachman gets a 5, meaning the bandit succeeds with a raise. The coachman is shaken and bandit 1 will have a +2 on his next action against him! Because he was on hold, the coachman losses his action. Bandit 2 rolls against Bixby. He gets an ace for a total of 7. Bixby gets a 4, keeping the bandit from getting a raise. Bandit 2 gets +2 on his next action against Bixby!
Being on their guard against potential 'would be heroes', the remaining 2 bandits use the defend maneuver.
Coming out of their concealed positions, the two archers ready their bows and take partial cover behind trees. They are 10" out (20 yards) and thus at short range.
Round one ends.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2017 23:41:23 GMT -8
Round 2 begins and cards are dealt.
Ser Raymond and his forces get a Four of Spades. Archers get a Joker. All previous cards are returned to the deck and shuffled. The other bandits get a two of clubs. Previous hold actions: Bixby.
The countdown begins and gets to the four of spades without the archers jumping in (they can go whenever they want with the joker). First up is the coachman rolling to get rid of shaken. He fails with a 1 on his spirit roll and remains shaken. With weapons in hand and ready to rock and roll, Ser Raymond orders the attack. The men at arms push back the curtains to reveal the scene before them, crossbows at the ready. And that's when the bandit archers decide to interrupt and take their turn (which they can do without a roll due to the joker). They each draw down on the crossbowmen and loose an arrow at them!
Attacking a target at short range is difficulty 4. Due to dim lighting (-1) and light cover (-1) and the +2 from the joker, they are at a wash for modifiers. They roll their D6 shooting dice. The first scores a hit with a 5 while the second only misses due to the cover with a 3. Because of this, the archer will hit but the crossbowman will receive extra armor from the cover (+2 for the wooden wall of the coach).
The first shot deals 9 points of damage. Not enough to score a raise against our 6 toughness crossbowman (ain't armor great?). Crossbowman 1 is shaken! The second shot deals only deals 6 damage, which would have been enough to apply shaken (and thus take out crossbowman 1, except that his toughness is 8 because of the arrow having to shoot through coach! Coachman 1 survives for another round (so far).
Crossbowman 2 has his chance to finish his action now. He's at a -2 multiply action penalty (remember he had to open those pesky curtains?) in addition to his -1 from dim lighting. All of his targets are at short range, so he needs a 7 to hit. He tries to take out one of the melee bandits but is unable to connect with his crossbow bolt with a roll of 4.
Ser Raymond bursts into action, throwing open the door to the coach. He steps outside and readies the shield from his back. "Your wicked ways end here!", he declares. "Surrender, or face my steel!"
Should our knight want to enter a test of wills he'd need to roll at -4 for his two other actions (donning the shield and opening the door). As Ser Raymond doesn't have intimidate (meaning he would need to roll at a -2 on top of his M.A.P.), his player decides not to bother. Not every line of dialogue needs a test, after all.
Seeing his mentor burst into action, Bixby decides that he too will fight. He leaves hold to act and stands up (which costs 2" of movement) and draws his rapier. "And mine!", the squire declares with his sword in hand.
Which brings us to the rest of the bandits on the two of clubs. "Handle the boy!", one shouts to the other before joining his two companions (the two who used defense last turn). Together they advance on our knight, weapons in hand. Outnumbering 3:1, they attack.
Ser Raymond has a parry of 8 with his shield out. By outnumbering they get +2 to their fighting. The first bandit takes a swing with his axe. "Taste this steel!" And makes a wild swing, hoping to take Ser Raymond outquickly. He rolls his fighting D6 +4 - 1 (dim light) vs parry 8. He rolls a 4, getting a 7. He is unable to connect with Ser Raymond.
Bandit 2 takes the opening to try and grapple with our knight. He must roll his fighting in a constest against Ser Raymond. The bandit rolls a measly 1, even with his +1 bonus this doesn't beat the knights 6. His attempt is rebuffed, being unable to get past Ser Raymond's shield.
Bandit 3, having just seen both of his comrades fail, decides to be more cautious in his attempt. He too attacks with an axe, but not wildly like bandit 1. With a 3 on the die he is unable to make an effective strike. This just leaves bandit #4, who had previously threatened the squire.
"Last chance, boy! Give it up, before I skewer you like a pig!", Bandit 4 resumes threatening, this time with a +2! Our bandit gets a 5 vs our squires 4. He's nervous, but not giving in. Bandit 4 will have a +2 vs Bixby in round 3.
"You can't beat me, I have the high ground!", Bixby responds with more bravado than he feels in his gut.
Round 2 ends.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2017 0:38:05 GMT -8
Round 3 begins with new cards being dealt.
Sir Raymond and crew get a 6 of clubs. Archers get a 9 of clubs. Bandits get a joker. All discarded cards returned to the bottom of the deck and the deck is shuffled.
Seeing this as their golden opportunity, the bandits seize the top spot in the initiative and go once again. Bandit #1 tries to shove Ser Raymond to the ground. That's an opposed strength roll. The GM rolls a 2 and uses one of his two bennies for a reroll and gets a 1, leaving the bandit with a total of 4. Ser Raymond rolls a 6 and the shove attempt doesn't succeed. Bandit #2 takes a wild swing in frustration. He aces twice, ending up with a total of 21. Against Ser Raymond's 8 parry this nets 3 raises (only one of which matters because it was an attack roll, but hey). With an extra D6 for his raise he deals 13 points of damage, enough to deal 1 wound to Ser Raymond. Not wanting to take penalties before he's even swung his word, Ser Raymond decides to spend a benny to soak.
He rolls his D8 Vigor and wild die, needing a 4 to succeed and remove his wound. He rolls a 4 on both dice, enough to net the success he needs to neutralize the 1 wound. Not only is he not wounded, but he's not shaken either. Huzzah!
Bandit #3 follows suit with a wild attack of his own. He nets a total of 10, getting a success against Raymond's 8 parry. For damage he nets an 11, just short of the 12 he needed to raise. Ser Raymond is shaken, but not wounded.
Bandit #4 decides to take Bixby down a peg or two. He moves up and slaps the nearest horse with flat of his blade to jostle the carriage! This is a trick using agility. The two roll off, with the bandit getting a +2 for his previous rounds intimidation attempt. The bandit scores a 6 with Bixby scoring a 2. A raise! Bixby is taken by surprise and becomes shaken, trying to maintain his footing as the coach jostles. He'll be at a -2 to parry until his next action.
Next up is our archers. Given the difficulty of the shot, they both take aim. "You get the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right!", they shout to each other.
Finally, Ser Raymond and company can react. Bixby, The coachman, and Crossbowman #1 need to make spirit checks to overcome shaken. Bixby aces and can act this turn, the crossbowman and the coachman are still out of action. The coachman decides to take cover, getting down on the floor and covering his head. "I don't want any trouble!", he screams as he cowers. Crossbowman #1 does likewise. "They shot me John! They shot me!", he cries out to the other crossbowman as he slumps onto the floor nursing a flesh wound.
Crossbowman #2, aka John, drops his crossbow onto the seat (a free action) and climbs over his wounded friend, drawing out his shortsword as he jumps down next to Ser Raymond. "Get it together Pete, Ser Raymond needs us!", he says as he goes.
"Glad you could make it. I thought I was going to get all the glory for defeating these lot!", Ser Raymond declares as he swings his longsword at Bandit #2. Since Bandit #2 used a wild swing his parry is reduced from 5 to 3. Ser Raymond scores a 7, netting him a raise on the attack. He rolls 2D8 + 1D6 for damage. With a few aces, he does 33 points of damage, far exceeding the 10 he needed to incapacitate an extra (6 toughness +4 for a raise). Bandit #2 is out of the fight.
Bixby, having rallied, tries to taunt his adversary. "I think you're scared. That's why you haven't taken a swing at me, you afraid of getting beaten by a mere squire!" He rolls his D4-2 (unskilled taunt) in a test of wills against Bandit #4's smarts. He aces and gets a 5 (with the -2). Our bandit friend gets a 1. Success with a raise. Bandit #4 is shaken and Bixby gets a +2 to his next action against him.
And round 3 ends.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2017 1:36:27 GMT -8
Round 4 begins and cards are dealt. Ser Raymond and Co get a Ten of Clubs. Archers get a 7 of Diamonds. Bandits get a 9 of spades.
Ser Raymond and Co go first and thus roll to resolve shaken. Both the coachman and the crossbowman #1, Pete, fail. Ser Raymond takes the lead, attacking Bandit #3 (who wild attacked last time). He only needs a 3 to hit, but rolls double 2's. As such he decides to spend a benny to reroll. This time his D6 aces and he gets a 9, which nets him a raise for bonus damage. His damage roll is low though, only getting a 7. 7 is enough to shake the bandit, but not incapacitate him. Luckilly, crossbowman #2 is now in the fray with his short sword. He tries to close the deal with an attack of his own. He rolls a 3, which nets him a 2 with the dim lighting penalty, not enough for hit.
Bixby jumps down off the coach and makes a wild swing at bandit #4 (Sweep the leg!). He only rolls a 1 on his fighting test. With a -1 from the dim lighting, he just barely fails. Better luck next time.
The bandits are up next. #3 tries to shake it off and succeeds, he can act this turn. Bandit #4 sees his opening. He's going to make a wild attack to incapacitate with his axe (striking with blunt back of the axe head). He take a -1 for the dim light and his non-lethal intent, which means he's back to a flat roll. He rolls a 1. The GM spends their final benny. Annnd rolls a 1 again... He misses.
Bandit #1 swings his axe at the knight again. He misses. Bandit #3 strikes for the crossbowman. And again misses. Which finishes things up for the bandits.
The archers are up. One is going to shoot at Crossbowman #2, aka John. He has a +2 to hit from aiming and a -1 for the dim light. With a difficulty of 4, he makes it with a total of 5. He rolls 10 damage, enough to score a raise an incapacitate John. The second fires at #2, aka Pete. Pete is prone on the floor of the coach, so there is a +2 for aiming, -2 for prone, -2 for dim light. The archer rolls a 5, getting a success on a 4. He does a total of 6 damage which meets Pete's toughness. Since Pete is shaken, the success upgrades that to wound, incapacitating him.
This brings round 4 to a close.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2017 3:00:42 GMT -8
Round 5 begins.
Ser Raymond and Co: Ace of Spades Archers: Queen of Hearts Bandits: Nine of Hearts
First we roll to resolve shaken for the coachman. He gets a 1 this time.
Ser Raymond starts off the turn. "John! ... Pete!", Raymond shouted as arrows layer his men low. "Bixby, get to cover!", he yells in warning before continuing his clash with the bandits. He rolls to attack and rolls abysmally. His player considers spending a benny but decides to save them for a more important roll.
The coachman gets up, climbs down the opposite side of the coach, and starts to run away. "I don't wanna die!"
Bixby uses the defend maneuver and withdrawn from melee, prompting an attack from bandit #4. Bandit #4 misses and Bixby retreats, getting slowed down by having to climb over the yoke of the coach on his way to the other side. He ends his movement on the opposite side of the coach from the archers.
The archers both take aim at Ser Raymond.
Bandit #4 lets Bixby run and moves over to help his allies in overpowering the knight. "Don't worry, I'll go kill him when I'm done with you", the bandit says with a grin, prompting a clash of wills. The Bandit rolls his taunt (defaulting) at D4-2 against Ser Raymond's smarts. Bandit #4 rolls a 1, resulting in a -2. No effect. Bandits #1 & #3 throw everything into their attacks, hoping to rock the knight back on his heals. The first roll is 6, miss. The second roll is a 7, miss.
Round 5 ends.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2017 3:18:36 GMT -8
Round 6 begins.
Ser Raymond & co: Nine of Diamonds. Archers: Jack of Hearts Bandits: Ace of Clubs
The Bandits renew their attacks. #1 wild attacks and rolls an 17. Raise. He rolls 17 damage on 3d6 (one die aced). That's enough to score a two raises against Ser Raymond (who was saving his benny for just this situation). Ser Raymond spends his second benny and rolls to soak. He rolls his vigor + wild die and nets a 6, a success. Ser Raymond is shaken and takes 1 wound. #3 wild attacks and misses. #4 Wild attacks and hits (rolled a 5, +2 for outnumbering, +2 for wild attack, -1 for dim light). He aces and gets 15 damage! That's a success and raise. Ser Raymond is saving his last benny for an incapacitation roll, so he takes the wound, now having two wounds.
Our archers apply their lethal craft, firing on Ser Roland, but as surrounded as he is find the shot harder (I'm giving cover because he is surrounded and outnumbered). The archers are +2 for aim, -2 for cover and -1 for dim light. They need a 5 to hit. The first rolls a 5 and hits. He does 11 damage (one ace), which is a success. Because Ser Raymond is already shaken, this bumps up and becomes his third wound. The second archer misses, but doesn't roll a 1 (which would cause him to hit an ally).
Badly wounded, Ser Raymond falls to one knee. "I yield.." he croaks, spitting blood onto the ground. Bixby and the coachman both run for the hills as the curtain closes on our encounter.
Combat ends.
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