[Monster Rules] Fantasy

Finally, last night we played Monster Rules with a fantasy setting.

I hosted the adventure, creating a simple three part scenario:

1. Knife in the dark
2. The Lost Crypt of Orinth Kor
3. The Crypt

My opponent, Jake, played a party of adventurers he created--a strange brew of religious fanatics with mysterious powers, of course. There were Templars, Seers and the strong-armed Behemoths.

I controlled all the antagonists, inclduing the thieves, tricks, traps and other creatures he would run into during the adventure.

Part I was fun. 600 points each. I used one Hero thief and 6 Minion muggers to invade the room of his two Templars. The game lasted only 5 Turns. My goal was to eliminate one or both characters--an opportunity to reduce his total point count going in to game 3; He on the other hand, was trying to stay eliminate me. If successful, he would recieve a map that would reveal many of the secrets of the crypt.

The encounter was interesting. I was totally unprepared with the knife-wielding brigands. The templars used an Absorption (Damage) power with Backlash to not only repel my attacks, but to quickly dispatch all of the Minions. It became apparent that I was going to lose.

They focused on my Hero Theif with a simple ranged power and brought him down quickly, winning the map.

Although, it was a slaughter, it did reveal some of his strategies for the remainder of the game.

Game 2 was a simple opportunity for Jake to read the map and gain some insght into the Crypt. The Seer charactrer's used their Lore skill to study the map. The map had a TN 10 difficulty--which came out of my points and had 3 chances to study the map.

He won 2 out of the 3 rolls which allowed him to flip 2 of the game markers placed on the map for the final game.

Game 3 started with his group at the front doors. I placed a mix of Game Markers and creatures throughout the Crypt--850 points worth (I was using a tactical team approach).

His objective was to retrieve the Sword of Kor, lost somewhere within the Crypt. I of course, was trying to destroy him.

Since he was able to read the map, he got to choose 2 game markers to flip, and picked a Dwarven Lockstone Door and a Decoy marker.

Jake quickly revealed his last trick--his group could dimensionally travel. They used ESP to see within the Crypt and started teleporting towards where he thought the sword was. I suddenly realized that the game markers--indicating all sorts of traps and tricks--were going to be relatively useless as he attempted a smash-and-grab for the sword.

The only two characters I had in play, a Juggernaught and a Hellfire Priest, were no match for his Templars, who were able to duplicate themselves and rain death upon my characters; however, I was able to delay them sufficiently.

At the beginning of Round 4 I would get reinforcements (another 900 points)!

As Round 4 started I had lost everything and the Templar had found the sword and were ready to beat a hasty retreat.

I finally was able to bring in Dram, the great dragon, which I positioned to block their exit. I also brought in one more Juggernaught and an evil wizard.

Thinking he would not need his back-up, the Templars were left alone in the dungeon.

First, the Juggernaught rammed and slammed the Templar with the sword back into the chamber with the dragon. He dropped the sword along the way.

Then the Wizard was able to Dominate one of the Templars and Dram began to lay waste to the second--finally, the tables seemed to turn as I used powers that he was not properly prepared to defend against.

Round 5 started with Jake allowing me to move first, destroying the one Templar I was not dominating.

When it was his other Templar's Turn he used a Heroic Recovery to free himself from my control. He then transported himself to where the sword lay.

Round 6 he won initiative, recovered the sword and teleported beyond my range.

He won...

The game lasted about 2 hours total and was a lot of fun.

The new Complication + Conflict approach to building the story--versus simply bashing eachothers skulls in--was fun also. It built up the story far more than if we had simply jumped in at the Crypt.

As usual, I created a more engrossing experience with my points than going for the juggular--which is always what Jake does.

We are going to replay the scenario tomorrow in preparation for a convention next weekend. It will be one of the demo games.

All the other systems seem to be working out great.

--Matt