Yet more Riddle of Steel

[arxhon]

Ok, i convinced a third player to join our little group.

Instead of dragging him through the chargen process right at the start, i took a gamble and gave him temporary control of the major villain, who both of the other characters have SA: Passion, Hate against. This made for a great session, with much note passing and whispered conversations between the players and I.

The guy controlling King Hrothwulf did well, being a wonderful bad guy, and forcing the Baron and the Captain to retreat from the village to the Baron's manor.

There were some great role-playing moments between the King's player, and the Baron's player, as they squared off outside the Baron's manor.

The King had bribed another Baron in the lands friendly to the "good PC's", which was related to the Baron through a SA. This new enemy had supplied several horsemen and a Sergeant to lead them under the King. Combined, they forced the PC Baron to flee his manor and seek refuge at the Duke's town of Aldwych.

I reintroduced the Duke's daughter, who had been captured in the demo session, as a prisoner. The original players caught sight of a familiar carriage, and quickly put 2 and 2 together. Playing evil king to the hilt, the new player passed me a note stating that the King had forced himself upon the Duke's daughter while the good guys made their escape.....

In the town of Aldwych, seat of the Duke, preparations for the Duke's birthday were underway, with all of the nobility of the area in attendance. The Baron PC tried to convince the Duke that enemies were invading, supported by a traitor, but the traitorous lord, in attendance, did his best to discredit the Baron ap Cen.

Some rolls were made on Intrigue and Persuasion, as the Baron tried to spread rumors about the traitorous lord and drum up support for retaking his lands (which the King had lit on fire).

The session ended with assassins attacking the Baron and the Captain while they slept, and things got tense there for a bit. A pair of 9 die guys were actually making the 12 and 13 die characters fight for their lives, until the Captain threw an 8 die counter and slashed his assassin's throat. I had the new guy play one of the assassins to get him into the "swing of things", as it were. He grasped the basics of combat pretty quick.

The session ended with the PC's frantically trying to apply first aid to one of the assassins who had had his arm hacked off. He died.

Both PC's are a little cut up now, and in less than optimum condition, with level 2 wounds....



I'm still ironing out some things in the game....i should have had everyone make terrain tests while fighting in a fairly cramped bedroom. No big deal, though. THe players were having enough trouble as it was.

The Baron's player is taking to the game quite well. He's reveling in everything, though he did say at one point: "Man, i didn't expect the King of Hrothwulf to be invading my lands and burning my villages."

Of course, i asked him "What did you expect? You took Enemy as a major flaw!" :-) Maybe he thought it was one of those situations where 'enemies' are just for bonus points, and never have any bearing on the game... At any rate, he's definitely the lead player.

The other guy, well, unfortunately, his character isn't much use outside combat.  Since the game involved a lot of running away and social interactions, he didn't gain any SA's other than Luck, which kind of sucks for him. He's kind of a "side-kick" player (or as Ron would put it, the bass player) at the moment, it seems.

The new guy initially wanted to play the violated daughter, but I nixed that, because i have plans for her at the moment. We'll get him a proper character at the start of the next session. How he'll fit in, i'm not sure.

We are really beginning to see the strategic aspect of combat, and how a single, well timed maneuver can totally change the course of a fight.

We are trying to remember to use SA's. There was a situation where we forgot to use one for the Baron in a social context. Again, no biggie.

One thing i really like is the lack of preparation i need to do for running a session. In fact, all i did was write some stuff up for the new guy to play the King appropriately, and i let my players drive the rest of the session while i simply adjudicated the results of their actions.

Congratulations to Jake on making a winning game!

[Valamir]

I'd be tempted to continue to let him run the villains for you.  Sounds like he did a great job with that and had fun with it to boot.

Barring that, perhaps he's the Barons Valet.  Most noblemen had a man Friday about.  Given that the baron is now wounded, now would be the perfect time to see this valet tending to his master.  It would be more of a background "rogueish" type of character rather than an an out front duellist, but it sounds like this new player might enjoy that aspect.  Would also give the party an extra boost in the "intrigue" department...with a nice resourceful servant lurking around in dark corners.

[ADGBoss]

Or as another possibility, let him be another Baron. I am sure if the King is screwing over one Baron, he has done this kind of thing before.  Perhaps an exile who has returned after a few years, ready to make his bid for vengeance.

Sean
ADGBoss

[arxhon]

Both great ideas, Valamir, ADGBoss.

He had such a great time running the villain that i actually feel bad about taking the King away from him, but things could be problematical down the road, i think.

What I'm going to do is sit the three of them down at the start of the game and let them decide what would fit them all together best, with input from myself, if they need it (not likely).

I've found that this approach avoids the "assassin and paladin" problem. With the first two, i had a definite 'hands-off" approach, and would like to continue this for the third.

[Lance D. Allen]

I'd give 'em the suggestions made here, as they're both good ones. Chances are, he might like one of them and riff off of it into a totally new direction.

Damn.. I don't suppose you live anywhere near Phoenix, AZ do ya?

[arxhon]

Hey, Wolfen.

'Fraid i live nowhere near Arizona. I live in Canada. :-(