Some playtesting of Chronicles

I'm not exactly sure how I managed to trick myself into doing some playtesting for Chronicles tabletop RPG system.

Anyway.

I made a map in Vassal so it's fast and easy to make some practice runs of the first three scenarios.

"House Rules" I used were:

- You cannot save yourself from a critical fail with skill points.
- You cannot modify enemy rolls with skill points.
- You cannot modify damage rolls with skill points.

So, after my first run of the starting adventure I noticed that goblin archers are, well, nothing. They can punch out unexpected damage out at times, but it doesn't happen in every game. So, I made full runs of the first scenarios with groups of adventurers where in one goblin archers cost 1 point and gave 1 gold as loot.

Also, since the last scenario proved to be boring as hell and the Captain ally is way too powerful there, I did a third set of test in last scenario. There goblin archers cost 1 point and Captain has level 0 gear, but other stats remain the same.

I'll break down the scenarios to how much damage the characters had at the end of scenario and how many skill points and potions were used. Then I'll also write up each characters loot (kinda character progress), and other mentionable things.

Let's start!


First: The DPS party
Team was built for maximum damage output, as that too can often break games.

Swordsman + Offensive Stance, running/jumping as past experiences.
Dwarf Warrior + Ancestral Weapon
Cleric + Smiting Words.

Scenario 1:
Swordsman: Took 3 damage. Used 0 skill points. Gained 16 gold & Potion of Strenght.
Dwarf: Took 4 damage. Used 1 skill point. Gained 15 gold.
Cleric: Took 0 damage. Used 8 skill points. Gained 15 gold.

So, heavily armored warriors took only a couple of damage points. Cleric didn't need to heal and used Smiting Words four times with horrific results. The spell is obviously way too powerful.

Scenario 1 with 1 point goblin archers:
Swordsman: Took 0 damage. Used 0 skill points. Gained 17 gold.
Dwarf: Took 1 damage. Used 1 skill point. Gained 10 gold + gem worth 10 gold coins.
Cleric: Took 0 damage. Used 8 skill points. Gained 18 gold.

A little bit tougher fight, though statistics don't show it. Cleric had to heal twice and used smiting words three times, but this was just because goblins dared to roll like dice gods.

Scenario 2:
Swordsman: Took 5 damage. Used 0 skill points. Didn't use Red Potion that was given. Got another Potion of Strenght. Total gold: 30.
Dwarf: Took 1 damage. Used 0 skill point. Didn't use Red Potion that was given. Got gem from shaman, worth 20 gold coins. Also found the Copper Necklace. Total 15 gold.
Cleric: Took 0 damage. Used 7 skill points. Didn't use Red Potion that was given. Got Blue Potion from shaman. Total gold: 28.

Scenario 2 with 1 point archers:
Swordsman: Took 5 damage. Used 0 skill points. Total 40 gold.
Dwarf: Took 4 damage. Used 1 skill point. Didn't use Red Potion that was given. Total 43 gold.
Cleric: Took 1 damage. Used 8 skill points. Didn't use Red Potion that was given. Got gem worth 10 gold coins. Total 27 gold.

This time elite crack team didn't reach goblin shaman soon enough and it drank blue potion away. Rolled 30 gold from treasure table. Shaman was flinging spells like crazy at the Swordsman, which made the scenario somewhat interesting. Swordsman had to even use his red potion, just in case.

Scenario 3 with Captain with 0 level gear.
Swordsman: Took 2 damage. Used 0 skill points. Still has Red Potion, 2x Potion of Strenght. Total gold: 35.
Dwarf: Took 2 damage. Used 0 skill point. Still has Red Potion. Has Copper Necklace. Total 40 gold.
Cleric: Took 0 damage. Used 7 skill points. Still has Red Potion, but used Blue Potion. Total gold: 34.

There was absolutely no challenge at all. Even with lowered gear Captain takes more than 1 point of damage only if goblin rolls 6 for damage and Captain 1 for defense.

Scenario 3 with Captain with 0 level gear & goblin archers costing 1 points:
Swordsman: Took 4 damage. Used 0 skill points. Total 45 gold.
Dwarf: Took 4 damage. Used 1 skill point. Still has Red Potion. Total 48 gold.
Cleric: Took 2 damage. Used 9 skill points. Still has Red Potion and Copper Necklace. Total 42 gold.

Well, this time Captain took damage even less. Only 2 points. Still no challenge. Scenario wasn't fun to play.

Scenario 3 with Captain with 0 level gear & goblin archers costing 1 points & Goblin Leader:
As I was thinking earlier, the last scenario might need a bit more something than two types of goblins we've seen already quite a bit. I wanted to add some new type of goblin to the board, and came up with this:

Goblin Leader
Cost 2, Loot 3 gold.
FS 4/8/12, MOV 5
ATT 1, HP 7
STR: 1+1d3
DEF: 1, M.DEF: 1

Special: Other goblins gain +1 FS & +1 to their STR score in melee when within 3" of Goblin Leader.

So, what I wanted to do here was that Captain wouldn't hit goblins on 4+ and that there would be a slight chance for goblins to actually damage the Captain a bit more. So, statistics:

Swordsman: Took 5 damage. Used 0 skill points. Total 46 gold.
Dwarf: Took 6 damage. Used 2 skill point. Still has Red Potion. Total 49 gold.
Cleric: Took 1 damage. Used 9 skill points. Still has Red Potion and Copper Necklace. Total 43 gold.

Now, hear hear. Captain took a whopping 12 points of damage, but if we're completely honest, that's because adventurers this time around rolled dice like crap. Usually goblins were left alive with only 1 hit point. Captain also rolled enough of 5's, which earlier would have hit but now were a miss. I didn't use any skill points on Captain, by the way. Just to keep things interesting and to speed up decision I thought that maybe it'd be good if Allies could use skill points only for, well, skills.

But it's starting to be a little late, I need to leave the write-up for second adventuring party for a later time.