Indie Monday (Oct 28, 2002): Fighter-D Alpha Planescape (4)

[Zak Arntson]

Wow, this campaign just keeps on going! I've modified the rules, which you can find here: http://www.harlekin-maus.com/fighterd/fighterd.html. The semi-updated character sheet can be downloaded here.

I put the Actual Play link list on my site at Accounts of Play.

The biggest change would be the lack of Ability scores. Each Fighter's abilities all receive the same score: Skill. This helped to streamline play and put all abilities on equal footing. With the simplification of the combat system (i.e., you could choose any combat skill for a combat roll), there was no reason to have more than one combat skill. Now your abilities can be selected more for flavor. This also aided in on-the-fly Monster creation, since I just come up with a monster's Power and invent abilities during play.

Here's what happened this time: The party, standing over the dead lobster demons, roots around for treasure and grabs the Sun Quill. Ninja Henry, using his Know Trivial History ability, examines the walls for any clues concerning the creators of these ruins. It turns out that the Sun Quill is a mighty artifact, used to summon the God of Gondorria.

Aside: Weirdly, none of the Players put Sun Quill in their inventory. I may just roll with this, and say quest-specific items are actually carried by the group as a whole. Like in those computer rpgs, where you have a separate "quest item" inventory.

The murals depict the peaceful Gondorrians invaded by the evil, shadowy Zorloffs. To defeat the Gondorrians, they used the Sun Quill to summon their deity to smash the Zorloffs. The murals show this god to be a blind destroyer who is to be summoned by the Sun Quill and banished by the Moon Quill. Unfortunately, they never summoned their god and the Zorloffs conquered, leading to millenia of ruin and despair.

The Fighters are now very concerned. Just why does the sobbing drunk want the Sun Quill, really? At first it seemed like a valid charity case, but what if he has the Moon Quill? Perhaps his sob story was a ruse? Well, the Fighters need to head back to Sigil for facts and for that, they need the portal's key: A twig from this world.

The Fighters make their way out of the dome and towards the forest for their twig. At the edge of the forest, they see a light from within and the sounds of a crowd. They decide to investigate because, and I quote, "There might be opera."

Aside: Call for words: Martial Arts Tournament, Boss, Viking, Shadows.

The Fighters enter the forest and discover a fighting stage beside a huge Viking hall. Vikings line the arena, cheering on the carnage. Above it all looms a shadowy, withered figure on a massive throne. The Fighters are told that they have broken the strict rule of secrecy by spying on their tournament and must join! During their wait in the fighters' stables, meet shadowy Vikings who are awfully similar to themselves. There is a massive, four-armed Viking, a shadowy assassin viking, a Viking master swordsman, and I honestly can't remember Son of Mummy's double.

Aside: I polled for words, here: African-American, Bearded, Burly, Nervous

Soon, their first fight  begins. Each Fighter is paired up against a viking in each corner of the arena. Son of Mummy faces off a dark-skinned Viking wielding a many-pointed hurling axe, originally from some far off land. Ninja Henry faces the burliest Viking he's ever seen. Ghost Samurai is fighting a nervous whip-wielding Viking. Lastly, Four-Armed Thing is in combat with a dwarf from deep beneath the hills.

Massive combat ensues, so here are some highlights (I need to get my Players on the Forge so I they can post their own highlights):
- We used miniatures! The rules for moving miniatures generally went: If you narrated, you got to move both you and your opponent to any spot on the arena.
- Son of Mummy performed a Flaming Baby technique which somehow resulted in the baby carriage pounding the dark-skinned Viking's head into his neck.
- Ghost Samurai cut berserker Viking in half! His torso kept on fighting, and the lower half caught fire and become another opponent.
- One of the Viking's heads flew over the arena, spewing blood and incorporated a player-provided fact: "Blood gets in everyone's mouth."

And thus the Fighters were victorious and got treasure with which to go to the Item Shop before the next fight. Oh, and we ended the session.

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Fighter Roster:
Son of the Mummy
Power 2, Actions 2, Skill 2
Abilities: Sixth Sense/Sight, Occult Lore, Bodily Function Attack, Pyrotechnics, Mind Control (slaves)
Special Moves: Flaming Baby (down, down, kick)
Items: Golden Rocket-Powered Baby Carriage (signature, 4), 2 Mummy Slaves (0), Shrinking Ring (1)

Goro
Power 2, Actions 2, Skill 2
Abilities: Surprising Revelation, Create a Path, Hurling Axes, Four Forearm Stonewall, Fuck Some Shit Up
Special Moves: Whirlwind Crush
Items: Mighty Stone Axe (signature, 4), Hurling Axes (1), Brick (0)

Mecha Ghost Samurai
Power 2, Actions 2, Skill 2
Abilities: Swordplay, Grappling, Sense Supernatural, See/Communicate with Dead, Flying
Special Moves: Samurai Tsunami
Items: Boshi Katana (signature, 2), Ghost Familiar Upped (2), Mecha Ghost Armor (2)

Ninja Henry
Power 2, Actions 2, Skill 2
Abilities: Obfuscation, Know Trivial History, Charm Others, Use Ninja Equipment, Jump
Special Moves: Silent Swoop, Enveloping Ambush
Items: Katana (signature, 4), Bag o' Shuriken (3), Ninja Stealth Suit (2), Femur (0)

[rabidchyld]

I must say, I simply cannot wait to play this game.  It looks like so much fun.  I have sent the links to your actual play posts to my group for them to read and get as jazzed about it as I am.  

Just wanted to say that....

melodie