Roll those dice

[caddyman]

Monday night is games night and I am pleased that it has survived the successive blows over the years of players dropping out and moves of house. We recently concluded after many weeks, what was supposed to be a relatively short Cthulu scenario of mine own design – part of an occasional campaign based around the fictional Coverdale Institute operating out of Oxford with close ties to both the University and, at one step removed, the Government. The reason it took so long to spin through, apart from the usual summer time absences that derail such things, was that the players took the sensible view that if something could be described as squamous or even gibbous, it probably should be steered clear of. At the same time, they investigated the mystery and though I couldn’t say that they solved it as such, they most definitely thwarted the baddies’ plans with minimal and only temporary loss of sanity.

We have now moved on to AD&D run by ruletwo, picking up from the campaign he started last summer, I think, but using the newest rule books that strip some of the more pointless complexity out of the system. As usual, there is a pattern developing when I play rather than GM a game: the dice perform well as my character manoeuvres himself into a position where he can do nasty things to goblins, Orcs and such, but then the big numbers do a runner as the Karma Pixies switch to the loaded dice in actual combat. I can generally roll the number I need to keep my character alive at the last minute, but only after I have taken a huge amount of damage in the meantime.

Still, last night I managed to come out of it reasonably well and we didn’t have to fall back on the combat services of the Halfling cook with his mighty war ham, a concept that started off as a battle ham, but which gave more amusement after modification because of the name similarity with The Scottish Game¹. I now have to draw a picture of the Halfling cook with his mighty war ham, I think, though this needs to be added to the list².


¹Real gamers NEVER speak of it directly.

²I am supposed to be designing a wallpaper for Furtle featuring her gay elf rogue, or whatever he is, from Warcraft, plus I have a joke to draw, if I can find the inspiration before the Derby event early next month

Comments

[ash1977law.livejournal.com]

So how are you finding 4E?
Good bits? Bad bits?

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Hard to say right now as we are only two sessions in and still finding our way around.

The only annoyance I have found to date is that the 4E system doesn't seem to allow for 'holding actions' in the middle of a fight. That would have been useful last night after I had done a part move followed by a stealth roll, I was going to hold my main move until it was more advantageous (I had initiative), but the system doesn't allow for that.

Rules update

[ruletwo.livejournal.com]

Actually it does - I just didn't read the right bit. Sorry, it's a learning process for me as much as anybody!

[ladkyis.livejournal.com]

an ever full pie dish and a 'stay-dead' jug. The ever full pie dish was reluctantly donated to the sisters of mercy for their soup kitchen for the poor. Bob the Halfling now has a season ticket whenever he is in town. The 'Stay-dead' jug is a long story.

I love halflings, I love to play them in any system. They are the bravest race and the most infuriating companions any band of adventurers could ever hope to get tangled up with.

[ladkyis.livejournal.com]

OH OH I just hope that the very worst thing you can ever hear a halfling say in your game is still


OOPS!

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I wasn't actually complaining (though I would have in a case like the one you decribed). The players' responses were perfectly valid and they managed to get through the scenario with minimal loss of sanity as a result. It did mean that everything took far longer than I anticipated, but not in (I hope) a bad way.