[WHAT] First campaign

[martinw]

I bought "Warrior Heroes: Adventures in Talomir" recently and am trying out the game. I'm hoping to play through a campaign, trying out various types of encounters.

Following is a write-up of my first session. I'd welcome any comments or suggestions!

Happy gaming!

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S | Scene description

M | Mechanics

D | Dialogue

C | Comments

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C | Warband

M | Creating a new warband. Starting with the Star and then recruiting the initial grunts. Following the guidance in the book and doing it step-by-step.

M | Type: Star. Name: Sam. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N/TW. Gender: M. Class: Warrior. AC: 4 (-1 to Rep when taking Physical Challenge). Weapon: 1S. Pep: 4. Sav: 5. Wary: Count Rep at 1 point higher when taking the Action Test. Dim: -1d6 when Interacting.

M | Now on to "forming your band": recruit up to 5 grunts for the first band. I'm going to start after row 3, since I'm considering my Star to be the leader. I'm not going to use random attributes for the grunts to start out with. Since I don't have a need for it yet, I am not defining Pep and Sav just yet.

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Alex. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary.

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Bob. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Shooter. AC: 2. Weapon: SB. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Agile.

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Charlene. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary.

M | Type: Grunt. Name: David. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary.

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Egan. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary.

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M | For the campaign, I'm going to use the "down the road" bonus material. Thus: first Encounter is Carousing.

M | Which band members goes with Sam? 1d6 vs. member's rep: Alex: 1d6 = 6 → no. Bob: 1d6 = 1 → yes. Charlene: 1d6 = 1 → yes. David: 1d6 = 2 → yes. Egan: 1d6 = 4 → yes.

S | Sam and his merry band of adventurers (all except Alex) are in Mirholme. They're traveling along a road, coming up on an area where they know there is a small inn. Since it's coming up on the lunch hour, they're planning on stopping in for a snack – and for some entertainment.

M | Using the full table and playing through their arrival in the Settlement. Choosing noon as the time of day. I'm dividing the table into 9 sections. I'm going to pre-determine that there is an inn. Which section is the inn in? 1d6 = 6 → middle right. The warband will enter from the bottom, so 6+1/2d6 = 9 → bottom right. For the rest of the table, I'm going to populate it myself. Let's say that there is a road running from areas 7 to 9 (which the warband is on), with a T intersection at 8, with the road going up from 8 to 2. The inn in 6 is off to the side of that main road. There is another building in 2 (dead-ending the road). Another building in 3. There is a pretty dense forest in 1 and 4. There are smaller trees along the bottom road (7 to 9).

M | Encounter rating: Mirholme = C. We'll consider this a village in the interior → ER = 2

M | PEFs: I will place ER number of PEFs: PEF #1: 1d6 = 5. PEF #2: 1d6 = 1. One PEF in the deep forest. Another PEF right in the middle of the road in the middle of the village.

M | The warband is positioned along the road. There aren't any obstructions in the way. They can see the PEF. Let's use the PEF Resolution table: 2d6: 6 3 → Just a case of nerves. The PEF marker is removed.

D | Sam: "Oh man! There's a crow that just flew up from the middle of the street up ahead. I thought for a second it was a ghost or something. I guess I do need some relaxation!"

M | OK, let's go to the regular turn sequence. Roll off to see which side goes first: Us: 1d6 = 3. Them: 1d6 = 4. The enemy goes first.

M | PEFs have a Rep of 4. The PEF does activate. Let's see if it moves: 2d6: 1 3 → PEF moves 8" toward warband, staying in cover. Figure out what the PEF is according to the Carousing encounter. How many? 1/2d6: 5 → Same number = 5. Who? Let's use the pre-generated lists. 2d6: 11 → Mercenaries. Leader? 1/2d6: 3 → Soldier with Rep 4. Met before? 2d6: 6 → No. Alignment: same as nation, so N as well.

M | Same alignment → Interact. For this to make sense, I'll move the mercenaries out of the forest and into the road and the warband up to meet them.

D | Sam: "Hey! OK, but that is not a crow up ahead! Ho there! How goes it?"

S | The warband spots a group of soldiers up ahead. They're just coming out of the deep forest. The two groups meet in the middle of the road, at the height of the inn, facing each other.

M | Let's go to the NPC interacting chart. Sam's Pep is 4, but he's dim, so it'll be at 3. It's reasonable to assume that the Soldier's Pep is the lower of the attributes, so at 3 as well. Warband: 2d6: 2 3 → 2 passed. Soldiers: 2d6: 5 6 → 0 passed. Favorable to warband.

D | Soldier: "Well met! We've just come from a mission. Tried to find a runaway dog. No luck though. Maybe you'll have better luck. Come, we'll take you to the guy who gave us the job. You can see if you want to take it."

M | Could also try to barter with them, but will take a bonus to the next interaction on getting the job offer instead.

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S | Having made new friends, Sam and his warband and the group of soldiers go into the inn together.

M | There are ER = 2 more PEFs inside of the building. Per the encounter instructions, I can choose to resolve them whenever. Based on my narrative so far, I will turn one of those PEFs into a "scripted" interaction of a Job Offer. Since that doesn't seem to be dependent on the location, I will not set up the tabletop for the inside of the inn.

D | Soldier: "Ah! My dear merchant. We have good news and we have bad news. The bad news is that we have not found your doggie yet. The good news is that we found these fine gentlemen here who can help you find your dog!" Turning to Sam and his warband: "Gentlemen, I give you our master diamond trader."

M | Mechanically, I am choosing to resolve this PEF as a friendly interaction. Just to try out the mechanics, I will use the NPC Interaction table and will have this count as the "further interact" step. Let's say the merchant has a Pep of 5. Sam is normally at Pep 4, but he's Dim – but we'll give a bonus from the introduction by the soldiers; so stay at 4. Let's roll for it: Merchant: 2d6: 6 1 → pass 1. Warband: 2d6: 3 3 → pass 2. Favorable!

M | Let's see if the merchant wants to give Sam the job (Job Offer table): 2d6: 5 5 → pass 2 = Yes!

S | The merchant grunts, clearly unhappy that the soldiers weren't able to find his pooch. But he is indeed happy that the warband might be able to help him. He buys everyone a round of ale and then describes his problem. Sam listens attentively, clearly interested in the job.

M | I think the closest job offer is the Quest. However, I'll cut out the dungeon portion of the quest, since that seems overkill just to find the dog. So, next are Wandering encounters until the dog is found!

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[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Very well done and much appreciated. A great How To. Thank you!

[martinw]

May 10, 2022 19:30:52 GMT Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy said:

Very well done and much appreciated. A great How To. Thank you!

Thank you, Ed. That is high praise, especially coming from you.

I'm having a ton of fun with your game and can't wait to play the next session! I hope to post another update soon.

[martinw]

Here are my notes from my second session. I had lots of fun again! Can't wait to keep exploring WHAT.

This session had me exploring the rules a whole bunch more, which raised a bunch of questions. I will post those in a follow-up message.

As before, any comments or suggestions are welcome!

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S | Scene description

M | Mechanics

D | Dialogue

C | Comments

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C | This is my second session playing WHAT. I'm going to continue with the campaign concept.

M | Wrap-up from previous session: Let's see if I increase/decrease Rep for my hero. I had two successful Interactions → 2 increasing Rep d6. I don't think I get another increasing Rep d6 for the Objective, since it says that a Carousing encounter cannot fail or succeed unless there is combat (which I didn't have). Let's see if my Rep goes up: 2d6: 1 1 → both lower than current Rep=5, so no increase.

C | OK, that should complete the previous Encounter. In the previous Encounter, I accepted a Job Offer to look for a lost dog. I'm treating it as a Quest, although I'm not going to go into a Dungeon when I've "found" the dog.

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D | Sam: "All right! Is Alex back? Yes? Good! We've got a job to do. Let's go find that dog and bring it back – alive, mind you. Oh, and us too, of course. Never know what we'll run into! The soldiers said that it ran off into the woods to the northwest, so that's where we'll start."

M | I want the whole band to go on the Wandering encounter with me, so I pay them in Rep d6. Current state of the warband (copied from my first post, but adding total increasing / decreasing Rep d6 count):

M | Type: Star. Name: Sam. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N/TW. Gender: M. Class: Warrior. AC: 4 (-1 to Rep when taking Physical Challenge). Weapon: 1S. Pep: 4. Sav: 5. Wary: Count Rep at 1 point higher when taking the Action Test. Dim: -1d6 when Interacting. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: -5

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Alex. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Bob. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Shooter. AC: 2. Weapon: SB. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Agile. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Charlene. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: David. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Egan. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | The story so far has dictated that this will be dense forest throughout ("Woods"). I'll manually sprinkle some rocks on the table and add a hill, to make it more interesting.

M | Let's say that it's still day time, early afternoon.

M | Encounter rating: Since this forest is directly next to the village from the previous session, let's still call this ER = 2. The next one after that will be wilderness (going further away into the woods).

M | The warband will enter from 6 + 1/2d6: 6 → 6 + 3 = section 9.

M | Generate ER = 2 PEFs: First PEF: 1d6: 3. There is a hill in that section, so I'll put the PEF behind the hill. Second PEF: 1d6: 5. There's a hill in that section too, so I'll also place the PEF on the other side of the hill.

C | OK, I think I'm ready! Just looking at the "table" (I'm still playing on the carpet on the floor), I'm already excited about having my warband trudge through the forest, with PEFs lurking about behind the hills! Can't wait to see what they turn out to be!

D | Sam: "OK. The forest is pretty dense here. Stick together and be alert! Let's head toward the northwest."

M | Turn 1: Let's check for activation. Us: 1d6: 3. Them: 1d6: 1. We will activate first. And since Sam's Rep is still 5, we do activate!

M | The warband will move toward the northwest. Since they're in woods, their movement is reduced to half speed = 4".

D | Sam: "Bob! Come on up here. I want you up front with your bow, in case we run into something along the way."

M | Bob will position himself to be in the front line. The warband is still in section 9 – a 4" movement is pretty small! (And my carpet is a bit bigger than 3'x3'. This might take a while!)

M | OK, now the enemy side will activate. PEFs have a Rep of 4. The PEF closest to the player gets to activate first; that's the PEF in section 5, behind the hill. PEF movement table: 2d6: 3 3 → passed 2. PEF moves 8" toward warband, staying in cover (and ignoring the terrain penalties). This brings the PEF over the hill and to the bottom corner of section 5. Checking for line of sight… I think LOS is reduced to 12" during daytime in woods. Still out of sight!

M | Second PEF, in section 3, gets to activate. 2d6: 1 2 → passed 2. PEF moves 8" toward warband. This PEF will also move up over its hill toward the warband. It is well over 12" away from the warband, so also still out of sight.

M | OK, I think that completes the first turn.

M | Turn 2: Activation: Us: 4. Them: 2. We go first.

M | Sam's Rep = 5: We activate. We'll keep moving northwest, 4". We're still out of sight of the PEF in section 5.

M | Now the PEFs get to activate. Their Rep is 4, so they get to go as well.

M | PEF #1: 2d6: 2 2 → passed 2. PEF moves up to 8" toward warband – but stops after moving 3" since it now has line of sight to the warband.

M | PEF #1 resolves: ER = 2. PEF resolution table: 2d6: 6 3 → passed 0 = Just a case of nerves. There is one more PEF left, so this one turns out to be nothing.

D | Bob: "Man, I almost let one fly just now. An arrow that is. Thought I saw something up ahead!"

M | PEF #2 gets to activate: 2d6: 6 2 → passed 1 = PEF doesn't move.

M | Turn 3: Activation: Us: 3. Them: 3. Reroll! Us: 2. Them: 3. PEFs go first! (Well, "PEF" singular, since only PEF #2 is left.)

M | PEF #2: With a Rep of 4, the PEF activates successfully. Check PEF movement table: 2d6: 3 5 → passed 1 = PEF doesn't move.

M | Warband's turn! Sam's Rep = 5, so warband activates. Keep moving northwest, at a snail's pace of 4" (I could fast move, but they're searching for the dog, so I'll just leave it as-is.) Nice. The front line is juuuuust inside of section 5. Still out of sight of the PEF.

M | Turn 4: Activation: Us: 4. Them: 2. We go first.

M | Sam activates successfully. Keeps moving 4" northwest. Now the entire warband is in section 5. They're still out of sight of the PEF. (Interesting: The warband is arranged in two lines of three members. The hill in section 5 is screening the majority of the figures. Only the two right-most members are currently "exposed".)

M | PEF #2 activates successfully. PEF movement: 2d6: 1 4 → passed 2 = PEF moves 8". Still out of sight of the warband, but getting much closer!

M | Turn 5: Activation: Us: 3. Them: 3. Reroll! Us: 6. Them: 3. We go first, buuuuuut:

M | Sam's Rep is 5 – which is lower than the activation number. He does not activate.

D | Sam: "Hey, wait, hold up. My pant leg got snagged on this dang branch. Help me get loose, will'ya?"

M | PEF #2: Activates successfully. PEF movement? 2d6: 6 1 → passed 1 = PEF doesn't move.

C | This probably makes for pretty dry reading, but it's actually quite fun to play through. Turns are pretty quick. Makes me wonder who will stumble across whom first. Kind of creates tension about what's out there in the woods!

M | Turn 6: Activation: Us: 2. Them: 4. PEF goes first.

M | But! Rep for PEF #2 leader is 3, so no activation.

M | Sam activates successfully. Warband moves 4" toward center. Bob and David come into sight on the right-hand side of the hill with PEF #2!

M | Let's resolve the PEF: Since this is the last PEF here, definitely resolve it (no need to roll dice). How many? 1/2d6: 6 → 3 = One more than your band = 7 NPCs. Who are they? 1d6: 4 → row 4. 1d6: 4 → Goblins. Goblins always get 2 more than originally rolled, so there are actually 9 of them! Yikes! Use the goblin race list: 1/2d6: 3 → Leader = row 3. Leader: Warrior, Rep 3, AC 2, 1S. 2nd in command: Warrior, Rep 3, AC 2, 1S. Additional: Shooter, Rep 3, AC 2, SB. Warrior, Rep 3, AC 2, 1S. 5x Shooter, Rep 3, AC 2, SB. All are Lightweight. Shooters are Agile. Warriors are Wary. Yikeseroonies! Our alignment is TW, theirs is BM, so not the same alignment. Rep total: warband = 25. Goblins: 9*3 = 27. BM total is higher than the TW total → Goblins will attack! I place the nine (gulp!) goblin counters on the tabletop. Seems like goblins wouldn't travel in a tight formation, so I spread them out a bit. I'm supposed to place them in cover – but since we're all in a forest, we're always in cover. I place them off to the side of the hill.

M | It had been the warband's turn and the warband had moved. The warband gets to move up to 2". I move them all into sight of the enemy.

M | Let's take the Action Test: Warband: Sam is Wary: Rep + 1. We're in cover: +1d6. 3d6: 2 4 2 → passed 3. Goblins: Leader is Rep 3 and Wary. They're in cover too. 3d6: 3 3 1 → passed 3. Same number passed → stationary side wins.

M | The goblins get the drop on us and attack! No casters, so no spells.

M | Shooters are up next: 5 goblin shooters are in the front and have a "clear" shot at the warband. The goblins are armed with shortbows, with a range of 24". LOS in the woods is 12"; only Egan is out of range. (I'm going to follow the advice in "order of fire resolution".)

M | Resolve fire: Goblin shooter vs. Sam: 2d6 (vs. Rep 3): 2 2 → passed 2 = hit target. Goblin shooter vs. Bob: 2d6: 4 1 → passed 1 = target is in cover & will return fire/charge. Goblin shooter vs. Charlene: 2d6: 5 3 → passed 1 = return fire/charge. Goblin shooter vs. David: 2d6: 1 3 → hit. Goblin shooter vs. Alex: 2d6: 5 3 → return fire/charge.

M | Roll damage: vs. Sam (Rep 5, AC 4): 1d6: 4 - 1 (shielded) = 3 → Duck back. vs. David (Rep 4, AC 2): 1d6: 3 + 1 (AC 2) - 1 (shielded) = 3 → Duck back.

M | Resolve damage: Duck back: move the figures into cover. Since we're already in cover, I will leave them where they are. They're hiding behind a tree and cannot be seen by the goblins.

M | Eligible targets return fire: Bob is a shooter and will return fire. Charlene and Alex are warriors; they will charge. Bob (Rep 4) vs. Goblin: 2d6: 4 4 → passed 2. Hit! Damage: 6 → Obviously dead.

D | Bob: "Think you can shoot at me? Take that, you dirty goblin!"

M | Charlene and Alex charge: Since they're in woods, movement is reduced to half. They move 4". They don't reach the goblins. They Fast Move, both at AC 2 and Rep 4: 2d6: 2 5 → both pass 1 and add 2". This still doesn't get them into striking distance, so they stop.

M | That takes care of the goblin shooters. Now come the goblin warriors: They'll move 4" toward the enemy (now Charlene and Alex, since they had moved up). They don't quite make contact yet. They'll try to Fast Move, all at AC 2, Rep 3: 2d6: 6 4 → passed 0 = failure. They stop.

M | Lastly, we have one shooter that wasn't close enough. He will move forward toward combat. His normal 4" is sufficient to get him into shooting range for the next turn.

M | OK, that completes the Action Test.

M | Since the goblins took an Obviously Dead, they need to do a Will to Fight check: 2d6: 2 2 → they're still over 50%, so Carry On!

M | Now, the warband can continue its turn (the active portion).

M | No casters, so no spells.

M | Bob (Rep 4) has a clear LOS on an enemy shooter: 2d6: 3 4 → passed 2 = hit! Damage (against Rep 3, AC 2): 1d6: 3 + 1 (AC 2) = 4 → higher than rep = out of the fight.

M | Next, charge into melee, Charlene and Alex. Charlene: Move up 2" to goblin warrior. The goblin has nothing to shoot with, so just receives the charge. Charlene: 2d6: 4 2 → passed 2. Goblin: 2d6: 5 1 → passed 1. Charlene wins. Damage: 1d6: 5, add 1 for 1 d6 passed more than the goblin, count AC one level higher for the goblin's shield → 6 vs. AC 4 = Obviously dead. Ouch!

M | Alex: Move up 3" to goblin warrior. Alex: 2d6: 4 6 → passed 1. Goblin: 2d6: 5 4 → passed 0. Alex wins. Damage: 1d6: 4, add 1 for 1 d6 passed more than the goblin, count AC one level higher for the goblin's shield → 5 vs. AC 4 = Out of the fight.

M | Next, Move up / fast move for those further away: Egan. Move regular 4" (in woods). 2d6 (AC 2): 3 4 → passed 2 = extra 4" (1/2 of 4" per d6 passed).

M | Sam and David recover from duck back; they cannot do anything else.

M | The goblins took some more casualties, so they'll do a Will to Fight check again: 2d6: 5 4 → passed 0. Leave the fight!

D | Sam: "That's right! Run, run stupid goblins!"

C | Phew! My warband got lucky there! There were quite a few goblins left.

C | I think technically I could check the disabled goblins for magic items – but I don't want to learn about those rules right now and it seems exceedingly unlikely that lowly goblins would be carrying magic items. I'm going to skip over that for now.

M | However, I am going to "loot" the corpses to see if I get increasing Rep d6 (tested against goblin's Rep 3): Bob: 1d6: 4 → passed 0 = none gained. Bob: 1d6: 1 → passed 1 = gain 1 d6. Charlene: 1d6: 1 → passed 1 = gain 1. Alex: 1d6: 4 → passed 0 = none gained.

M | The Wandering encounter says: "Play continues until the player resolves all PEFs or exits the table." Check: All PEFs have been resolved. And it says: "To succeed, at least one PEF must have been resolved as NPCs." Check! So I think that I have successfully completed this Wandering encounter.

M | Since this is the end of the encounter, I will resolve the increasing / decreasing rep dice for the warband.

M | We resolved the objective successfully, so everyone gets 1 increasing d6.

M | New totals (count of increasing / decreasing d6 dice): Sam: Rep 5, Inc/dec -4. Alex: Rep 4, Inc/dec +2. Bob: Rep 4, Inc/dec +3. Charlene: Rep 4, Inc/dec +3. David: Rep 4, Inc/dec +2. Egan: Rep 4, Inc/dec +2.

M | OK, now to check if anyone gets anything: Sam: 4d6: 3 2 6 6 → no 1s = Phew! no decrease. Alex: 2d6: 4 2 → not higher = no increase. Bob: 3d6: 3 1 6 → increase to Rep 5! Charlene: 3d6: 4 1 6 → increase to rep 5! David: 2d6: 4 4 → no increase. Egan: 2d6: 5 1 → increase to Rep 5!

C | Updated warband stats:

M | Type: Star. Name: Sam. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N/TW. Gender: M. Class: Warrior. AC: 4 (-1 to Rep when taking Physical Challenge). Weapon: 1S. Pep: 4. Sav: 5. Wary. Dim. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Alex. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Bob. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Shooter. AC: 2. Weapon: SB. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Agile. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Charlene. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: David. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Egan. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

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M | Looking back at the Job Offer that I am on, it now says what to do after the Wandering encounter. 1d6: 1 → 1 ≤ # of wandering encounters (per errata on forum) = ZOMG! Success! The warband has found the little pooch!!! (Again, I'm skipping the Dungeon portion that should be used at this point instead.)

M | Next: Return to the Job Offer giver via as many wandering encounters as led me here, so 1 more wandering encounter. Then, a Carousing encounter with the employer.

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[cthulhukid]

I guess the dog smelled the goblin meat and thought it was a free snack.

Your dice are much nicer than mine. That first volley of arrows would have killed half my party...

[jaypeel]

Great write up. It's what I needed to figure a few things out.

[martinw]

May 16, 2022 14:18:02 GMT cthulhukid said:

I guess the dog smelled the goblin meat and thought it was a free snack.

Your dice are much nicer than mine. That first volley of arrows would have killed half my party...

Nice. Yeah, I like how WHAT lends itself to making up a story to explain what happened. It's so light-weight that it doesn't get in the way, but offers enough that it's easy to come up with an explanation that is fun.

And yes, there were a couple of moments where a dice roll could have gone either way and I got very lucky. I think that being in cover protected my warband quite a bit when the shooting started. (Not sure how legit my setup was for that, but I'm OK with playing on "easy mode" to start out with!)

[martinw]

May 16, 2022 23:10:53 GMT jaypeel said:

Great write up. It's what I needed to figure a few things out.

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm not sure, though, if I'm playing the game according to the official rules. I'm just starting out myself. I am, however, trying to follow Ed's mantra: "Just play the game"

[martinw]

OK, here are some questions about the rules. Thank you in advance for your responses!

1. WHAT is really its own, stand-alone ruleset, correct? How much value is there in looking at Swordplay and Chain Reaction for additional explanations / clarifications? Is it better not to look at the other rulesets so that I don't get confused?

2. The "leader die" is not a thing in WHAT, correct? (This is an example of why I asked the previous question.)

3. Random attributes (p 10): First you roll 1d6 to determine which table to use. Then you roll another 1d6 to select a row. Correct? (Example: 1d6: 2 → table 2. 1d6: 4 → Duty)

4. Job Offer encounter: What does it mean to "pay one PEF" (p 92)? Do you just declare that you'll use one of the PEFs as the job offer encounter?

5. Line of sight in the woods: Is it 6" visibility (p 40) or 12" (p 20)?

6. Action test & leader: A figure moves into LOS, triggering the action test. The whole group can move up to 2" more. After that movement, whoever is left with LOS on the enemy acts, correct? Whoever has the highest REP is the leader of that group of figures, correct? (This may not necessarily be the Star.)

7. Action test & out of sight: Similar to the above, but assume that all figures use their 2" movement to move out of sight of the enemy again. If nobody is left with LOS on the enemy, does the action test just stop? (The warband peaked around the corner, spotted the enemy, but pulled back quickly enough that the enemy didn't notice anything.) Or does the enemy get to react in any way?

8. Resolving PEFs & LOS: A figure gets LOS on a PEF. You now resolve the PEF, i.e. determine what it is, how many there are, etc., and place the corresponding figures/minis/tokens on the table. This now triggers an action test between the figure and the resolved PEF, following the standard action test rules, correct? (I.e. as if the actual enemy had always been there and getting that initial LOS on the PEF was really getting the initial LOS on the actual enemy force.)

9. Duck back, recover: When you recover from duck back, you become visible to the enemy again, correct?

10. "When next active": For example for duck back, it says that you can recover "when next active". Does this include the current turn? Example: I win activation. I move. I come into sight of an enemy. I lose the action test, so the enemy gets to go. The enemy shoots; I duck back. Now I resume the active portion of my turn. Can I recover from duck back right away?

11. Actions during active turn (p 14): Are these actions to be taken in order within the group that is active? I.e. casting first, then shooting, the charge, etc. Or can you jump around? E.g. the first figure charges, the next one casts a spell, the third one shoots an arrow.

12. Actions during active turn (p 14): Does a figure have to perform one of these actions if it can? E.g. if a Grunt can charge into melee, is he required to do so? If he has to take an action, but he could do one of multiple things (e.g. either cast or charge), can he choose freely or does he need to take the first/highest one from that list?

13. Charge into melee & shooting (p 22): It says that targets can fire at the charging figure normally. Example: My figure declares he's going to charge the enemy. The enemy now gets one shot at the charging figure? Without any penalties? E.g. there is no "rush shot" in WHAT like there is in Swordplay 2015?

14. Lightweight & level: What does it mean to "count AC at 1 level higher"? Does AC 2 become AC 3 or does it become AC 4?

15. Lightweight & melee damage (p 23): I have won the melee against an AC 2 lightweight opponent. I go to the melee damage table. Do I treat the opponent's AC as being higher, i.e. as AC 3 (or AC 4, depending on my previous question)? I.e. the opponent is actually harder to hurt?

16. Slippery & melee damage: Similar to the previous question, how does Slippery work? It says that it applies "when losing on the melee table". How can that be? I thought that only the side that wins on the melee table gets to advance to the melee damage table?

17. Will to fight check: When is "have been completed" (p 24)? For example, an action test results in a bunch of violence. Finally the back-and-forth is over. But now the active portion of the turn continues, with more violence. Do you check for will to fight in between the two sets of violence? Or do you wait until the end of the active portion?

18. Wandering encounter, job offer, & payment: Do you have to pay your warband for every wandering encounter that you go on as part of the job offer? And do you resolve the increasing/decreasing Rep d6 at the end of each of those wandering encounters? Is there some way for the Star to get increasing Rep d6 to offset the payments he has to make to the members of the warband? Otherwise, it seems like the Star will rack up decreasing Rep d6 and will almost certainly end at the minimum Rep 3.

19. Job offer & payment: You do not need to pay your warband separately for accepting the Job Offer itself, correct? Paying the warband only comes in based on the specific job that's taken and the encounters that make up that job, correct?

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

May 17, 2022 20:00:52 GMT martinw said:

OK, here are some questions about the rules. Thank you in advance for your responses!
Here goes.

1. WHAT is really its own, stand-alone ruleset, correct? Yep. How much value is there in looking at Swordplay and Chain Reaction for additional explanations / clarifications? No, those are Intro rules. Very basic. Is it better not to look at the other rulesets so that I don't get confused? Yes. The rules share similar mechanics but they have been tweaked to fit the genre/period.

2. The "leader die" is not a thing in WHAT, correct? (This is an example of why I asked the previous question.) Correct.

3. Random attributes (p 10): First you roll 1d6 to determine which table to use. Then you roll another 1d6 to select a row. Correct? (Example: 1d6: 2 → table 2. 1d6: 4 → Duty) Yep.

4. Job Offer encounter: What does it mean to "pay one PEF" (p 92)? Do you just declare that you'll use one of the PEFs as the job offer encounter? Correct.

5. Line of sight in the woods: Is it 6" visibility (p 40) or 12" (p 20)? I'd go 6" at night, 12" in day.

6. Action test & leader: A figure moves into LOS, triggering the action test. The whole group can move up to 2" more. After that movement, whoever is left with LOS on the enemy acts, correct? Correct. Whoever has the highest REP is the leader of that group of figures, correct? (This may not necessarily be the Star.) Exactly. Here's a hint. Never gol more than2 2" deep with the group so they all can move into LOS

7. Action test & out of sight: Similar to the above, but assume that all figures use their 2" movement to move out of sight of the enemy again. If nobody is left with LOS on the enemy, does the action test just stop? (The warband peaked around the corner, spotted the enemy, but pulled back quickly enough that the enemy didn't notice anything.) Or does the enemy get to react in any way? No, it stops.

8. Resolving PEFs & LOS: A figure gets LOS on a PEF. You now resolve the PEF, i.e. determine what it is, how many there are, etc., and place the corresponding figures/minis/tokens on the table. This now triggers an action test between the figure and the resolved PEF, following the standard action test rules, correct? Correct. (I.e. as if the actual enemy had always been there and getting that initial LOS on the PEF was really getting the initial LOS on the actual enemy force.)

9. Duck back, recover: When you recover from duck back, you become visible to the enemy again, correct? If you want. You can stay behind cover. Duck back limits your ,movement. So if you want you can recover and stay out of sight, then move when you want.

10. "When next active": For example for duck back, it says that you can recover "when next active". Does this include the current turn? Example: I win activation. I move. I come into sight of an enemy. I lose the action test, so the enemy gets to go. The enemy shoots; I duck back. Now I resume the active portion of my turn. Can I recover from duck back right away? No, you already acted.

11. Actions during active turn (p 14): Are these actions to be taken in order within the group that is active?  Correct. I.e. casting first, then shooting, the charge, etc. Or can you jump around? E.g. the first figure charges, the next one casts a spell, the third one shoots an arrow. No.

12. Actions during active turn (p 14): Does a figure have to perform one of these actions if it can? E.g. if a Grunt can charge into melee, is he required to do so? If he has to take an action, but he could do one of multiple things (e.g. either cast or charge), can he choose freely or does he need to take the first/highest one from that list? He can charge. It's just the order, not what needs be done.

13. Charge into melee & shooting (p 22): It says that targets can fire at the charging figure normally. Example: My figure declares he's going to charge the enemy. The enemy now gets one shot at the charging figure? Correct.  Without any penalties? E.g. there is no "rush shot" in WHAT like there is in Swordplay 2015? No penalties.

14. Lightweight & level: What does it mean to "count AC at 1 level higher"? Does AC 2 become AC 3 or does it become AC 4? Up one level, so 2 goes to 4, etc. Damage is based on Rep.

15. Lightweight & melee damage (p 23): I have won the melee against an AC 2 lightweight opponent. I go to the melee damage table. Do I treat the opponent's AC as being higher, i.e. as AC 3 (or AC 4, depending on my previous question)? I.e. the opponent is actually harder to hurt? No, Melee Damage modifies the winner, not the loser so it doesn't help you.
16. Slippery & melee damage: Similar to the previous question, how does Slippery work? It says that it applies "when losing on the melee table". How can that be? I thought that only the side that wins on the melee table gets to advance to the melee damage table? Right, winner has the Melee Damage stuff applied to it but so can loser. So the guy is slippery and lost on the Melee Table. He's harder to hit now.

17. Will to fight check: When is "have been completed" (p 24)? For example, an action test results in a bunch of violence. Finally the back-and-forth is over. But now the active portion of the turn continues, with more violence. Do you check for will to fight in between the two sets of violence? Or do you wait until the end of the active portion? Last bullet, page 14. 
After both sides have activated all their eligible Bands or groups and all reactions have taken place, the turn is over and Activation dice are rolled again.

18. Wandering encounter, job offer, & payment: Do you have to pay your warband for every wandering encounter that you go on as part of the job offer? And do you resolve the increasing/decreasing Rep d6 at the end of each of those wandering encounters? Is there some way for the Star to get increasing Rep d6 to offset the payments he has to make to the members of the warband? Otherwise, it seems like the Star will rack up decreasing Rep d6 and will almost certainly end at the minimum Rep 3. Wandering Encounter, regardless of how long it takes only counts as 1 Encounter.

19. Job offer & payment: You do not need to pay your warband separately for accepting the Job Offer itself, correct? Correct. Paying the warband only comes in based on the specific job that's taken and the encounters that make up that job, correct?  They get paid after the Encounter is over when success and failure is defined, even if it takes numerous encounters in between. Your NPCs can gain and lose Rep d6 on their own on the encounters in between. So Escort, leads to a Confrontation- the NPCs get credit for the Confrontation, but not out of your wages. 

[martinw]

May 17, 2022 21:19:37 GMT Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy said:

May 17, 2022 20:00:52 GMT martinw said:

OK, here are some questions about the rules. Thank you in advance for your responses!
Here goes.

<snip>

Ed, thank you! You're amazing!

Two quick comments:

Melee damage & lightweight / slippery: Ooooohhh, OK, I get it now! Took me a moment, but now that all makes sense. Thanks for explaining that!

Job Offer & payment: OK, awesome, that makes a lot of sense! (I did that wrong in my session 2 write-up above then. I'll fix that before jumping into my next session.)

Thank you again so much for your help and for creating this game. I'm having a blast with it & can't wait for the next session! Happy gaming!

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

May 18, 2022 18:39:39 GMT martinw said:

May 17, 2022 21:19:37 GMT Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy said:

Ed, thank you! You're amazing!

Two quick comments:

Melee damage & lightweight / slippery: Ooooohhh, OK, I get it now! Took me a moment, but now that all makes sense. Thanks for explaining that!

Job Offer & payment: OK, awesome, that makes a lot of sense! (I did that wrong in my session 2 write-up above then. I'll fix that before jumping into my next session.)

Thank you again so much for your help and for creating this game. I'm having a blast with it & can't wait for the next session! Happy gaming!

Thank you!

[martinw]

S | Scene description

M | Mechanics

D | Dialogue

C | Comments

-----

C | Here's the write-up from my third time playing WHAT. Before launching into the next play session, I'm going to go back and fix a few things based on the feedback from Ed.

C | Combat between heroes and goblins: I think there are couple of things that I didn't do exactly by the spirit of the rules. I think I shouldn't have done the first "Will to fight" check at that point; I should have let the warband finish its full turn first and then checked. Thankfully, the goblins got a result of "carry on" so it didn't change the story. When Sam and David got a "duck back" result, I think I shouldn't have allowed them to recover immediately, but the next active turn thereafter. That might have changed the outcome of the battle quite a bit if the goblins hadn't failed their second "will to fight" check and hadn't chosen to flee. Being in "duck back" is quite harsh!

C | Increasing / decreasing rep d6: If I understood Ed correctly, I need to treat the job offer as one "journey," where the warband sets out on wandering encounters, gains/loses rep d6 along the way, returns back to the job giver, and is then paid at the end. The Star needs to pay the members of the warband to go on this journey with him, based on the rate for a Wandering encounter. Increasing/decreasing rep d6 are resolved at the end, after the job offer has been completed. Another thing that I think I misinterpreted is that I saw increasing/decreasing rep d6 as a zero-sum thing: if I pay 3 warband members increasing rep d6, then I need to take 3 decreasing rep d6; but, on a second look through the rules, I don't think that's accurate; it simply says that I gain 1 decreasing rep d6. This is something that I am going to retcon.

C | When the warband set out on its job offer, I think that Sam, the Star, should have "paid" 1 decreasing rep d6 and each member of the warband should have "received a payment" of 1 increasing rep d6 for going along. So the stat blocks should be:

M | Type: Star. Name: Sam. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N/TW. Gender: M. Class: Warrior. AC: 4 (-1 to Rep when taking Physical Challenge). Weapon: 1S. Pep: 4. Sav: 5. Wary: Count Rep at 1 point higher when taking the Action Test. Dim: -1d6 when Interacting. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: -1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Alex. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Bob. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Shooter. AC: 2. Weapon: SB. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Agile. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Charlene. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: David. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Egan. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

C | Then, after the fight with the goblins is over, I do think that I get the increasing rep d6 benefit from looting the corpses.

C | If I'm treating the sequence of wandering encounters as one single encounter, then I don't think I've completed the encounter yet, so I don't get the "you've met the objective of the encounter" bonus increasing rep d6 just yet.

C | Stat blocks after updating the increasing/decreasing rep d6:

M | Type: Star. Name: Sam. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N/TW. Gender: M. Class: Warrior. AC: 4 (-1 to Rep when taking Physical Challenge). Weapon: 1S. Pep: 4. Sav: 5. Wary: Count Rep at 1 point higher when taking the Action Test. Dim: -1d6 when Interacting. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: -1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Alex. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Bob. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Shooter. AC: 2. Weapon: SB. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Agile. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +2

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Charlene. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +2

M | Type: Grunt. Name: David. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Egan. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: ?. Sav: ?. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: +1

C | Since this is not the end of the job offer yet, I do not resolve these increasing/decreasing rep d6 yet. The warband members' REPs remain unchanged.

C | OK, I think that's all of the clean-up I'm going to do. On to the next wandering encounter to bring the little dog back to the merchant (job giver).

-----

S | Sam is leading the warband back toward the settlement. They're walking with a spring in their step after their successful encounter with the goblins. Egan has been entrusted with the little dog. He's holding on to him tightly. Thankfully the forest has opened up a bit, getting less dense as they head back toward the village.

M | I'm going to manually sprinkle terrain on the table again. To link up with the village, I'm going to say that there is a bit of the road going to the village running down the right-hand side of the board, i.e. in sections 3, 6, and 9. Let's say there are some rocks in section 8, and woods in sections 7, 1, and 2. Sections 4 and 5 are clear (grasses, small bushes that don't provide cover).

M | The warband enters in section 7. Their target is exiting via the road in section 3.

M | The fight with the goblins didn't take too long. Let's say that it's late afternoon / early evening. It's still light out.

M | Let's generate the PEFs. Since we're headed back toward the village, let's keep the encounter rating at 2. (And because I'm chicken!) First PEF: 1d6: 5. That section is clear, so I place the PEF into the center. Second PEF: 1d6: 1. There's a forest there, so I place the PEF into the center of the forest, in cover.

C | Setup complete! Let's start!

D | Sam: "Let's see if we can make it out of these woods."

M | Let's see who goes first. Us: 1d6: 4. Them: 1d6: 5. They go first.

M | Check for LOS between the warband and the PEF in section 5. We're 24" apart, so no visibility just yet.

M | Since the REP for a PEF is 4, they do not activate and stay in place.

M | Sam's REP is 5, so the warband activates. They move through the woods at half their normal speed, so 4". They move forward, but are still more than 1" into cover, so are not visible to the PEF yet.

M | Next turn! Activation: Us: 1d6: 6. Them: 1d6: 6. Reroll! Us: 1d6: 2. Them: 1d6: 4. They go first.

M | The PEFs activate. PEF in section 5: 2d6: 1 3 → passed 2. PEF moves 8" toward warband. Since there is no cover, moves directly toward warband. Since warband is still more than 1" in cover, does not trigger LOS yet. PEF in section 1: 2d6: 2 1 → passed 2. PEF moves 8" toward warband. This has moved the PEF out of the forest it was in. If the warband advances, it might have LOS on both PEFs at the same time.

M | The warband activates. Being oblivious to the (possible) threat ahead, they move again. They stop when they get to within 1" of the edge of the forest that they're in.

D | Sam: "Hold! Do you see that up ahead? Line up, but stay in cover in the forest!"

M | The warband will now trigger a LOS with both PEFs.

M | We'll start with the PEF closest to the warband (section 5). 2d6 vs. ER = 2: 5 1 → passed 1 = There might be something there. It's not the last PEF, so move on.

M | PEF further away (section 1): since it's the last PEF, no need to roll; it resolves. How many? 1/2d6: 2 → Same number as your band (= 6). Who are they? 1d6: 1 → row 1. 1d6: 3 → Men; from Mirholme. Use the Men–Mirholme race list: Who is the leader? 1/2d6: 5 = 2 → Warrior, Rep 5, AC 4, 1S, N. 2nd in command: Warrior, Rep 4, AC 4, 1S, N. Others: Warrior, Rep 4, AC 2, 1S, N. Shooter, Rep 4, AC 2, SB, N. 2x Warrior, Rep 4, AC 2, 1S, N. Shooters are Agile. Warriors are Wary. Our alignments are the same → Interact. Have we met them before? 2d6: 9 → Met before & was positive; may go straight to Further Interaction. Phew!

D | Alex: "No, hey, whoa. Hold up. That's Sirius & his band of merry men! I'd recognize him anywhere. Come on, let's see what they're up to!"

S | The warband advances, though cautiously at first. As they clamber out of the woods, they make themselves known to Sirius, so that they don't accidentally get shot. They meet up in the middle of the meadow (section 4) and greet each other.

M | Let's see what the NPC Interaction results in. This time, I'll randomize what Sirius' People skill is: 1d6: 5 → People 1 point lower than Rep = 4. Sam's Pep = 4, but he's Dim. Sam: 1d6: 4 → Passed 1. Sirius: 2d6: 5 2 → Passed 1. "You are well received and can barter" – yippie! Hmmm… oh! I have an idea

S | Sam and Sirius exchange pleasantries. Eventually Sirius spies the little dog. Curious, he asks Sam about it. Sam tells him about the current job they're on.

D | Sirius: "Oh! I have just the thing for you! Here, take this leash. I have no idea why I have it on me, but you look like you could make use of it. It's a gift!"

S | Sam thanks Sirius. The warbands say goodbye to each other. Egan can now relax and leads the little dog by the leash instead.

M | That was a successful interaction! I think that gets me another increasing rep d6. Not sure if just the Star gets it or everyone in the party. But since I'm generous to my own side, I'll let everyone have the bonus

M | We have resolved all of the PEFs. We had an NPC encounter, so the wandering encounter was successful. Since this is the last wandering encounter that's needed, I'm going to count the 1 increasing rep d6 for the encounter being a success.

M | New increasing/decreasing rep d6 count: Sam: +1. Alex: +3. Bob: +4. Charlene: +4. David: +3. Egan: +3.

S | Sam's party makes it undisturbed the rest of the way to the road and follows it back toward the settlement.

-----

M | Looking back at the Quest Job Offer, next is a Carousing Encounter with the job giver being the last PEF resolved. I can do this!

-----

[martinw]

S | Scene description

M | Mechanics

D | Dialogue

C | Comments

-----

C | My fourth session playing WHAT. I'm excited to see what the game throws at me!

D | Sam: "And we're back in the village! Let's see if the merchant is still at the inn."

S | The party make their way back up the road to the inn. Egan has given up dragging the little dog by the leash and is now carrying it in his arms.

D | Alex: "Perfect timing too. You owe us dinner!"

M | I'm assuming/decreeing that everyone in the warband will go on the Carousing encounter. I'll jump directly to the inside of the inn. I'll stipulate an ER of 2 again, for 2 PEFs inside the building. The merchant will be one of them.

M | To try out the rules, I will resolve one of the PEFs as a Companionship encounter. Let's see who's looking for companionship: 1d6: 3 → Bob. I'll determine a companion randomly per the rules: 1d6: 4 → Seamstress. Skills: 1d6: 5 → Rep = 4. 1d6: 4 → Pep = 4. 1d6: 3 → Sav = 3.

M | Let's see what Bob's skills are. I'll use the rules to help: 1d6: 1 → Pep = Rep, Sav = Rep - 1. Bob: Rep = 4, Pep = 4, Sav = 3. No modifiers for Bob.

M | Let's roll on the companion interaction table: Bob: 2d6 (against Pep): 4 1 → passed 2. Seamstress: 2d6: 5 4 → passed 1. "You are well received."

S | While Sam is looking for the merchant and Alex is heading toward the dining room, Bob is making straight for a middle-aged woman sitting at the bar, with a basket at her side, with various fabrics and ribbons sticking out of it. It looks like he's introducing himself to her, keeping a respectable distance. Then, they seem to be discussing something… and now it looks like Bob is turning his back to her and is dropping his pants! Right at the bar! She removes something from her basket; it catches the light of the candles and reflects off it. She brings it close to Bob's rear. She makes several swift movements with her hand, then pats Bob lightly on his butt. Bob glances back over his shoulder, turns and twists a bit, and then nods his approval. He hitches his pants back up, grins, and gives the woman a quick peck on the cheek. He rejoins his comrades.

D | Charlene, outraged: "Bob! What was THAT?" Bob: "Whaaaaat? I tore a hole in my pants when we were crawling through that dang forest!" Charlene: "Your UNDERpants?" Bob: "Hey, it's not my fault that tree branch was being all frisky!" Charlene: "Pfffft!"

C | ☺

M | I think that counts as a successful Interaction, so Bob gets 1 increasing rep d6.

S | Sam has located the merchant. The merchant looks at Sam expectantly. Egan steps out from behind Sam. The merchant yelps for joy at the same time that the little doggie does. The two are re-united!

M | I think that's all I have to do to finish the Quest. Let's see what we get paid! Let's assume that the merchant has Rep = Pep = 5. For taking the job: 5 increasing rep d6. For finding the doggie: 5 increasing rep d6. For each wandering encounter: 5 increasing rep d6; since we had just 1, it's an extra 5. That's a total of 15 increasing rep d6. I think only the Star receives this payment, not the party members. So that's 15 increasing rep d6 for Sam.

S | Sam, being in a good mood, decides to buy everyone dinner and rent a couple of rooms so that the warband can rest.

S | The next morning, the warband gets ready to leave.

M | Let's see if they get/got robbed! No circumstantial modifiers. We'll use Sam's Rep = 5. 2d6: 2 4 → passed 2 = No worries!

S | The warband waves goodbye to the innkeeper and steps out into the cool morning air.

-----

C | Nice! Pretty low-key session, but the perfect ending to this job offer.

M | I think the whole party receives one more increasing d6 for having successfully completed the objective of the Job Offer Encounter. New increasing/decreasing rep d6 count: Sam: +17. Alex: +4. Bob: +6. Charlene: +5. David: +4. Egan: +4.

M | I don't want to tackle the rules on bartering/recruiting yet, so I'll just try to improve Rep and skills.

M | Sam: Rep: 7d6: 4 1 1 2 6 6 6 → increases! Pep: 5d6: 2 5 6 1 1 → increases! Sav: 5d6: 4 2 3 4 6 → increases!

M | Alex: Rep = 4. Determine current Pep and Sav: 1d6: 1 → Pep = Rep = 4, Sav = Rep - 1 = 3. Rep: 2d6: 6 2 → increases! Sav: 2d6: 1 2 → no change.

M | Bob: Rep: 2d6: 6 4 → increases. Pep: 2d6: 6 2 → increases. Sav: 2d6: 4 6 → increases! Wow!

M | Charlene: Rep = 4. Determine skills: 1d6: 5 → Sav = Rep = 4. Pep = Rep - 1 = 3. Rep: 3d6: 4 2 1 → no change. Pep: 2d6: 5 2 → increases!

M | David: Rep = 4. Determine skills: 1d6: 3 → Pep = Rep = 4. Sav = Rep - 1 = 3. Rep: 2d6: 5 1 → increases. Sav: 2d6: 6 1 → increases! Nice!

M | Egan: Rep = 4. Determine skills: 1d6: 6 → Sav = Rep = 4. Pep = Rep - 1 = 3. Rep: 2d6: 4 3 → no change. Pep: 2d6: 3 3 → no change. Boo!

C | This should be the new stats for the warband:

M | Type: Star. Name: Sam. Rep: 6. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N/TW. Gender: M. Class: Warrior. AC: 4 (-1 to Rep when taking Physical Challenge). Weapon: 1S. Pep: 5. Sav: 6. Wary: Count Rep at 1 point higher when taking the Action Test. Dim: -1d6 when Interacting. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Alex. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: 4. Sav: 3. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Bob. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Shooter. AC: 2. Weapon: SB. Pep: 5. Sav: 4. Agile. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Charlene. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Female. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: 4. Sav: 4. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: David. Rep: 5. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: 4. Sav: 4. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

M | Type: Grunt. Name: Egan. Rep: 4. Race: Men. Nationality: Mirholme. Alignment: N. Gender: Male. Class: Warrior. AC: 2. Weapon: 1S. Pep: 3. Sav: 4. Wary. Increasing / decreasing Rep d6: 0

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C | I'll stop here for today. Not sure if I did everything "by the book," but I definitely had fun! The warband has completed a mission successfully and is ready for more! Can't wait to see where they'll go next!

[martinw]

Some more questions from my last two sessions playing the game:

1. Paying band members: Each band member who goes along gains 1 increasing rep d6, correct? Does the Star gain 1 decreasing rep d6 TOTAL or 1 decreasing rep d6 for EACH band member who comes along? So if 3 grunts come along, does the Star gain a total of 1 decreasing rep d6 or 3 decreasing rep d6? (page 12)

2. Wages, Quest Job Offer: At the end of a successful Quest Job Offer Encounter, does each band member receive the wages or just the Star? (page 94)

3. Increasing rep d6, successful Interaction: Only the character who is involved in the Interaction (Star or Grunt) receives the 1 increasing d6, correct? (page 6)

4. Challenges and PEFs: The example given on page 37 is of the Star trying to bypass orcs. How does this work? Example: There is a PEF on the tabletop. The warband comes within sight of the PEF. The PEF is resolved; it's orcs. The warband uses its 2" movement to move back out of sight of the orcs. Now the Star tries the Challenge to sneak past the orcs. If he's successful, the warband has "slipped past them"; the orcs are removed from the tabletop. Play continues. Is that a correct / by the book play?

5. Movement: Is it true that all figures move the same distance, regardless of race? So a man, goblin, and hill giant on foot can each move up to 8", correct? (I see that there is a "Slow" attribute, but that seems to only affect the Action Test, not the movement distance.)

Thank you in advance for any and all replies!