Before I get into the actual play part, since the vast majority of you are not familiar with the game in question (Altus Adventum), it's basically a high fantasy rpg meant to capture "old school" gaming, but is not a D&D clone. The mechanics are totally different (like no defined classes, levels, or hit points), but the atmosphere is meant to very similar to gaming in the 80s. This particular adventure is for beginning characters.  While Altus Adventum has been "officially" out since 2004, the following session was playtesting the 2nd edition rules, which should be out in the next few months.  The first part is the descriptive actual play, while the secondary part will be commentary on how the mechanics played.

Party
Wyreas-Gnome who specializes in stealth and his scimitar

Emriss-Gnome who specializes in both mental and tattoo magic

Erick-huge human who lusts for the thrill of battle

Scenario 1--Piarth

In true old school fashion, the party finds themselves together in the city of Piarth with no additional background on how they got there. Ready for adventure, that part wasn't such a huge priority . Passing through main street, on their way to the tavern for rumor collecting, they notice a member of the Merchant's guild giving a proclamation. It appears that caravans travelling to and from Groveton (the players insisted on calling it Groverton, as in Seseme Street Grover) have been under attack by goblin raiders. Previously the goblins only attacked lone travelers, but they have become much more aggressive. A 100 gold bounty has been given to any who can return to the Merchant's Guild with information on who is leading the goblins, and where their main camp is.

Along with the three party members, there are six other adventurers who also sign up. The party notices that they seem to be in groups of three each: 3 humans who don't look all that experienced, and a group consisting of a dwarf, elf, and human. This second group looks experienced. The party deduces that the second group might put up some competition and they decide to join a small caravan that is leaving the next morning to see if they can draw out an ambush.

That night the group also discovers that the most recent guard shift from Overlook Tower was supposed to have returned several days ago. There has been no word. Since Overlook Tower is roughly half way between Piarth and Groveton, the group decides to investigate.

The next morning they head out with the caravan. Small was right, as it only consisted of 4 merchants and two wagons of cloth goods. By the afternoon they had entered the heavily wooded hills west of Piarth. Emriss became very uneasy as the hills closed in on them and steeply rose from either side of the road. Shortly later, the group came upon an overturned cart ahead of them with the corpse of a horse still tied to it. Wyreas dismounted and headed to the protection of the brush along the road and started to make his way towards the crash. Unbeknownst to him, he was heading right at a goblin ambusher. Suddenly goblins attacked from both sides of the road, and a fierce battle ensured. Emriss used his mental powers to enhance his fighting skills, Wyreas showed skill with his scimitar, and Eric, while slow, was cleaving goblins in twain with his two-handed sword. When the battle was finished, all four merchants were dead and two of the goblins were able to flee. The group was only a few miles from Overlook tower, and night was falling, so they decided to make their way there.

When they arrived at the tower, it was almost dark. (The tower was small--think McCloud's home in Highlander, only slightly larger) The tower was eerily quiet (naturally ), no guards could be seen along the battlements. The group tried the door and found it ajar. Opening it, the discovered a grisly scene. Several bodies lie strewn on the floor, wearing guard insignia. Whatever had killed them was so horrible that it stripped some of the bodies completely to the bone. When the group entered, Wyreas went to recover two broad swords that lie on the floor. Much to his surprise, as soon as he did, the bodies animated and attacked! In addition to the two zombies and skeletons on the lower level, two more skeletons animated up on the landing where they couldn't see and jumped down. A vicious combat ensued, and Emriss nearly perished, suffering from a severe wound. Luckily for the party, the skeletons were more like a glass cannon, and shattered easily, and the zombies were so slow that the group was able to defeat them. After the battle the bloodied party administered first aid and Emriss used the last of his mental powers to heal some of the worst wounds before collapsing in exhaustion. After recuperating, they explored the tower and found a trap door that lead to what seemed like an operating room. Emriss recognized necromantic runes. Great evil was at work here, and the captain in Piarth would want to know. That night, while on guard duty, the alert Emriss also thought he saw a flickering light a few miles away on the top of a hill.

The next morning the group set out to investigate the light. They soon came upon a run down old cabin that was falling apart. Wyreas snuck close and investigated, and found that a few goblins were inside. A plan was hatched and the group threw a Molotov cocktail (oil flask) inside the doorway. Fire exploded everywhere, and the remaining goblins fled out the windows and through the large gaps in the wood. Right into the awaiting party members. After a short battle, the group was able to subdue one of the goblins and capture him. After interrogating him, Emriss heard a crashing sound to the east. Wyreas ran to the sound and was able to see the second group of adventurers riding hard towards Piarth. They had been spied upon!

When he party got to Piarth and went to the Merchant's Guild for their reward, the guild rep said the 2nd group of adventurers had already come and given the info and got the reward. However, there was a 1000 gold bounty for the head of the goblin king Qurtzog. Angry at being backstabbed by the 2nd group, the party decided to get revenge. Upon leaving the guild to head toward the captain to tell him of the tower, they were approached by a shadowy figure. The figure said he could give the party a map directly to the goblin's lair, which would allow them to beat the 2nd group there, if they would only deliver a package to a man in the Dark Dagger inn. The only rule was that they could not open the package under any circumstance. The party agreed and delivered the package. They were advised this was a test. There was nothing in the package. If the party disobeyed and opened it, they would be hunted and killed. But since they held their agreement, the man gave them the map. The party then went to the captain and explained what happened at the tower. Grateful, the captain offered a 50% discount on any weapons and armor, and offered free training for combat skills. Erick took advantage of this and became proficient in short blades and medium armor. Wyreas decided to get better with his scimitar and work on his acrobatics.

Scenario 2--Goblin Cave

They headed out almost immediately, heading towards mountain cave that housed the goblin king. During the first night, on Emriss's watch, a few horrifying creatures burst out of the darkness and attacked. They appeared as hairless dogs with six appendages that ended in razor sharp claws. Two antennae sprouted from their demon-like heads, and large gaping mouths were filled with jagged teeth. Initially caught by surprise, the party recovered. Luckily there were only a few of them, and the party was able to succeed in defeating them. The party was also able to avoid any further wandering monsters until the came upon the cave. However, on their way to the cave, they came upon the bodies of the 2nd group of adventurers, stripped naked and hoisted on stakes, brutally butchered.

The group decided to set camp up above the cave entrance and watch for anyone entering or leaving. They waited all day and night and no one left or came. During the last shift, Erick was surprised by a giant constrictor snake began to crush the life out of him while his party tried to kill the creature before Erick perished. There were able to, but just barely. It was then the decided to enter the cave and not wait for any more random encounters.

When the entered the lair, torchlight was lit, so Erick took the lead and didn't have to worry about light. Their first encounter was with a group of goblins in the dining area. These were easily dispatched and the party continued on. Coming upon a storeroom, Erick explored the area and was surprised by a pack of giant rats. The party was also able to relatively easily dispatch these creatures as well.

The next encounter was the party stumbling upon a guest room, and disturbing a group of 4 reptilian humanoids. these creatures were human sized and attacked with two-handed hammers. The battle was one of the toughest they had encountered to this point. Luckily for the party, they caught them getting ready for bed, so they were not wearing armor. Otherwise.... The question was asked, "We need rest, will this combat alert the other goblins?" to which I replied, "This is an old school adventure--monsters hardly ever leave the rooms they are assigned." Laughter ensued.

A bit later the group came upon an unholy goblin temple where they found a crystal knife that Wyreas quickly pocketed. While Emriss was examining the alter in the north end of the room, Erick and Wyreas pulled back a curtain to the rear of the room. They failed to detect that it was booby-trapped and a flash of light blinded both men. Immediately someone--or something--began attacking. All Emriss could see when he turned around was a purple tendril of energy whipping across both blinded men. By the time Emriss arrived and the blindness dissipated, both Erick and Wyreas were wounded significantly. They stumbled upon the goblin shaman, who's magic was formidable. Thinking quickly, Emriss invoked one of his mental powers and commanded the shaman to flee. Failing it's willpower check, the shaman did just that, allowing the other members to attack it from behind, slaying the foul creature.

Heading south, the party next came upon a large room where an elf was chained to the floor fighting a huge wolf. Also in this room were six goblins who attacked when they saw the group. The party left the elf to fight the wolf as they attacked the goblins, which was unfortunate for the elf. As the last goblin fell, so did the elf. The group was able to kill the wolf, but not able to save the elf. Exploring an armory that was just east of this room, the group found a magical short sword, a mail shirt, and a medium shield--all of which Erick donned.

It wasn't long before the party came upon Qurtzog's room. Qurtzog was a huge goblin armed with the two-handed axe, Elfsplitter, and his companion was another huge wolf. A fierce battle took place.

Wyreas pulled a Yoda ala-episode II and used acrobatic skills to tumble around Qurtzog and strike from behind. Erick faced off against the wolf, and Emriss tried invoking his mental powers to paralyze Qurtzog.

Unfortunately for Emriss, Qurtzog made all of his willpower checks every time Emriss attacked, and the mage was rendered pretty much useless. Erick too, was struggling to land solid hits against the wolf, but due to his newfound armor, was able to absorb most of the wolf's attacks. Wyreas kept Qurtzog busy with his acrobatics, striking severe wounds to the slow but large goblin. However, he was not unscathed. Wyreas was on the verge of death, having suffered both deep and severe wounds. Even a minor would would have been enough to kill him. But then he got lucky and rolled a 01 on his percentile check for acrobatics. Such a great success that his attack would be double the strength. Enough to kill the mighty Qurtzog. With Qurtzog dead, the party was able to focus on the wolf and kill it as well.

Success!!!

The party made their way back to Piarth and enjoyed their huge bounty. They then unraveled a worn map they found in Qurtzog's lair. A map to an island in the Dead Man's Sea where it was rumored to have vast amounts of gold treasure.

The adventure continues...

Game mechanical background:

This was the first adventure using the new rules, and overall it went quite well from a mechanical standpoint.  Because we were playtesting, we hurried past a lot of the story and background info (as described above).  Focus was on Aspirant characters just starting out.  For those not familar with Altus Adventum, a bit of explanation is in order:

Experience Points.  XP points come in 4 types: bonus, combat, stealth, and mystic to match the 3 types of skills: combat, stealth, and mystic (bonus can be used on any skill).  Players are typically awarded 1-2 xp points of the category they used the most for every major scenario completed, usually about every four hours of game play or so.  They use these points to purchase or get better at skills, which typically cost between 1 and 8 xp points, depending on the skill

Levels: There are no traditional levels in AA.  Rather, there are 6 experience titles--aspirant, adventurer, veteran, hero, lord, and legend.  Characters advance through these xp title levels as they gain in total xp points awarded.  I.e., before a character can become a  hero, they will have had to been awarded at least 50 xp points so far in his or her career.

Hit Points:  They don't exist.  Rather, damage is handled on a wound severity system: minor, moderate, deep, and severe.

Damage: Each attack is assigned a Damage Rating Level (DRL).  Players roll a d20 for damage, and depending on the DRL level, they see what type of wound was inflicted

Attacking and Defending:  A dice pool system is used.  Sort of like RISK in that both attacker and defender roll and compare highest number.  See the screen shot for an example:

[IMG]http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g141/rajzwaibel/NewPicture2.jpg[/img]

Mechanical Evaluation:

Ok, now that that is out of the way, lessons learned from the session from a mechanical standpoint.  Combat worked very well, even better than expected.  The dice pool system more than accomplished the two goals: quick resolution and keeping players involved.  Because there was no adding or subtracting of modifiers to die rolls, combat progressed very quickly from one person's turn to the next.  Everyone was kept involved and no one had to wait for their turn for more than a few seconds.

Magic:  It seemed that a bit of tweaking is needed here.  The level 1 mystic spell "stop assailant" is a bit too powerful with how the system was set up.  Emriss could cast it nearly indefinitely, and pretty much could take out any opponent who failed a WP check, which was most of them at this stage.  A beginning PC shouldn't have the ability to one-hit kill an opponent that often and that easily.  I say one-hit kill because the spell paralyzes the target, making anyone able to come up to it and kill it.  So that spell is going to have some limitations put on it.

Atmosphere:  Another of the goals was to capture the atmoshpere of old school gaming.  Having started B/X and AD&D back in 1981 and still playing those versions today, I'm pretty familiar with the style of modules and adventures.  So I think we did a good job achieving this goal with this system.

Overall, the playtesting well very well.  Better in some areas than expected, and a bit of tweaking needed in others.  Most importantly, the players (who have never played this game before), are getting excited about how the skill progression works, and they already have ideas of how they want to mold their characters into an archetype they want.

Hmmm...even though the first post was actual play, I think since it also involves playtesting evaluation, this thread needs to be moved to that forum.  I can't report my own posts, so can someone please do that for me if this is the case?

Thank you, and sorry for the confusion.