One Session (R2L/DE)

[abjourne]

Introduction:
I've been play-testing a game system called  Rise to Legends (R2L) for a few years now & I thought I'd post a session for feedback. Firstly, this session is the tenth in the current campaign. Before each session I post previous sessions at a friends site "dragonmist" and will begin this post with that summary, then discus what everyone did during the session.
Summary Ten, Choices:
After a few days of battling roaming grendle surrounding the walled town of Harting, jeb is contacted by one of his elemental spirit allies who reveals himself as a pixie, who then leads the young warden to again spy upon the heroes enemy, "the dark mage". The mage enchants a large shard with obviously demonic energies (green flames) and proceeds to commune with "his master". The dialogue mostly consists of the mage reporting the heroes' actions over the past few months (see summaries 1-9) ending with his plans to eliminate them & propagate conflict or destroy many factions around the ormaden vale. Afterward the pixie leads Jeb to a serene glade & introduces himself and his three fellow fairies, proclaiming their assistance to the warden's quest against the evil forces threatening his country before returning him back to the besieged town.
The heroes, after reviewing the situation decide upon a course of action, beginning by heading to the feywynn of Rhanelm (wood elves) to request sanctuary for the people of Harting from an advancing army of Si'duthan (aquatic elves). The feywynn deny their request choosing neutrality over the conflict & are skeptical about their accusations against a band of warriors (sent by jade) who've settled nearby and aided the fey against manticores in the heroes' absence. Disheartened they head back to Harting only to spot an advanced scouting party of Si'duthan and choose to ambush them. Once there they recommend the populace of the imperiled town flee south to the barony of Lingle After sending the seven suspect "loyal" guards east to Rasont.
Once the town's march had begun, the heroes' teleported to Rasont in hopes of warning a force of Dynarr from Drullthrom to an appending attack by a monstrous army. They convince the dynarr to hold their advance, allowing them to try & save the dynarr fleeing south from Gerimyth. Discovering that the manticores that were plaguing the feywynn are heading north to devour the refugees, the heroes join the ragtag band of dynarr in battle against the fearsome beasts. After a brutal clash, they stood victorious at only a score of survivors. The heroes teleport the survivors & join the Drullthrom army, who've magically constructed a walled fortification. Eventually the monsters arrived and instead of attacking the dynarr en march they were forced to assault their stronghold in failure.  In victory the Dynarr head off to return to Drullthrom while the heroes to Lingle, to failure. The people of Harting were caught by the Si'duthan & hunted all the way to Lingle, at great loss.

Actual Play:
The night began with players streaming in and everyone chatting about whats been going on with themselves for the past few weeks (we play every 2-3 weeks). Once everyone's settled in I'll pass out the previous adventures summaries and ask if everyone remembers where we left off or had any question and then review any rule revisions.
The group consists of five players and myself as the GM. This game one player was unable to attend so I asked, "who's gonna play Jeb?" and the last person to say, "not me" ended up with a second character to play (as norm).
Play began mostly with me narrating the scene between the "dark mage" & his master. Once "jeb" returned to Harting the players took over, discussing & debating what their "heroes were going to do in response to my "intro" and their exploration of the settings events by having their heroes speak with NPCs or directly asking me questions.
Having made their choices, the players explained to me their heroes intent. Game play from that point consisted of traditional "D&D" ish, we travel to there with me responding how the setting changes. My game style consists of presenting the players with a problem or situation & seeing how they address/cope with it. When travelling to the wood elves the heroes encountered a large band of grendle and a battle ensued. Grendle are basically D&D like trolls that were people transformed by infection.
R2L combat mechanics is one of the games strong points & a major portion of its  development. The battle began by me plopping down hero & grendle figures on a hex grid map & established loose ranges. The players began debating about their tactics before deciding to hit one in hopes of luring them in one at a time. The grendle were eating something large and rolled my standard random directive (D12, 2 being very bad for the players ranging to 12 being very good). Using this tactic allowed them to kill 3 before the rest noticed. Standard combat ensued.
Enemies make initial moves. GM
Heroes make initial moves. Players
Heroes make ranged & spell attacks. Players
Enemies make ranged & spell attacks. GM, trolls, didn't happen.
Heroes make melee/auxillary actions (including additional movements). Players
Enemies make melee/aux./moves. GM
Thus ending one round, repeating the above actions until the battle is resolved.
The battle began with the sorcerer & wizard "blasting" the initial rush of the trolls, while the two front line fighters (a knight & fire-elven templar) stood ready to fight. The ranger (player unpresent) hung back because his arrows would be of little use against the trolls.
The warriors began by downing a few weakened trolls with the mages still blasting away. Then the trolls overwhelmed them. The wizard got off a good area of effect lightning bolt. The fighters hung in there and the battle ended with the fighters looking bad & everyone else being ok. Recovery from battle is lieniant any the game continues. The large creature was a manticore that began to "stir" and then killed as a prelude to more powerful encounter (grendle-manticore(s).
Encountering the elves was role-playing using the standard random directive (SRD-D12) pitted against the spokesman heroes' charisma stat/skill. I rolled good/ he rolled bad.
Going back to Harting they encounter enemy elves and choose to ambush them at the forest's edge. We establish positions of figures & movement directions while I used the SRD to determine how long the players ruse worked. One player drew the elves attention while the rest ambushed any elves that tried to out flank him through the woods. The ruse lasted 2 rounds. The ranged players kept moving or stayed out of reach while the fighters duked it out.
There were 12 elves, 2 wizards, 3 fighter/mages, 3 crossbowmen & 12 heavy fighters.
The fighter/mages ere picked off in ambush. The mages & archers were the focus of attacks. & the battle ended with the heavy fighters falling last. The battle lasted at least a half-hour.
The remainder of the session was role-played with me using the SRD to determine most reactions/complications/fortunes. The large battles were determined by player rolls based upon their battle lore /leadership skills. They all rolled pretty bad with the small group of dwarves & well with the fortified battle (I gave them +2 for being fortified).
The Fate of harting was determined by a SRD roll (it was low).
The night wound down with me awarding a level advancement (to 5th) then a discussion about the game regarding Mechanics & Story including what the heroes intentions.
I guess that's about it,
Any questions are more then welcome
Thanx.