Well now, his write-up is something completely different for a change.
I was playing and playtesting a homebrew boardgame that used hexagon board and miniatures from the old Starcraft board game from Fantasy Flight Games.
First of all - I don't know what to write. I mean that any references to rules will not tell anyone anything about the game itself. So maybe I just ditch any attempt to make this write-up readable to anyone not familiar to the game. Which is not a very big group of people.
Also because the rules may be adjusted this write-up will serve only as a document what happened during game on 15th of December 2013 with the rule-set that was available then.
Few things about the game itself - players took turns where you activated all of your army with each unit rolling dice to see how well they activated. Failing this activation roll resulted in quite limited options during activation. At the start of every turn players also rolled dice to see who got to play their turn first - possibly giving the player two turns in a row.
When I was reading the rules first on my own and not actually having played the game I was a bit concerned how big an advantage first player would get. There was, however, a clever trick in the rules that removed most of the advantages of getting first turn or even two turns in a row. Any casualties and/or damage inflicted took effect only after both players had resolved their turns. This meant that the player who was playing second during a round could still play a full turn even if some units had already suffered enough hits to get killed.
Anyway, first we played a small game of zergs vs terrans. Back in the times of Starcraft I was a zerg and protoss fan. I took zerg for this first game, and wanted to try out the ol' basic zergling rush. I also wanted to try out how well game rules would handle quantity vs quality mentality.
And there seemed to be no real problem at least in this match-up. Terrans in much fewer numbers made for a tough game, though in the end zergs managed to kill all terrans who had any attacks at their disposal. We didn't, however, play exactly to the scenario requirements, so it's a bit unclear which side actually won.
Next game was a big one with terrans vs protoss, where I was trying out the terrans.
This game was dominated by science vessels which had a disruption ability. Of course that feeling could've spawned from match-up, too. Terrans had two battlecruisers, whose amazing damage output was quite good countermeasure against the shields of protoss. At first protoss were winning by the scenario in question, but an atom bomb to the right and battlecruiser and a crapton of other attacks in the middle secured a majority of control points for terrans later in the game.
But as was said, science vessel and their disruption abilities were a big hinderance to protoss, and they themselves were nigh invulnerable when backed up with a Medic.
All in all, the core rules felt pretty solid on this homebrew game.
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Monday, December 16, 2013
Monday, June 18, 2012
Saving Grace (Chronicles)
I've been testing Chronicles, the tabletop skirmish RPG system extensively as a solo project for a long time now, and I'm also writing an adventure book for the system. After first few overly detailed tests I haven't written anything here, because I didn't really feel I was playing the game, just testing it, alone.
However, yesterday that changed.
I played the adventure book A New Start with a friend. We both had two adventurers - my team being Zweihander with Charging Smash and Cleric with Smiting Words. My friend had Flame Wizard with Improved Fireball and Geomancer with Elemental Strike around. This was an excellent team for testing purposes - Zweihander and Geomancer being two of the newest additions to adventurer possibilities.
We played with Warmachine miniatures, though I have actually bought a couple of models to be used as adventurers later. But they will have to wait for a paintjob.
First, a thing that you cannot feel when playing as solo on Vassal, is the size of the gaming area. The size of 24" x 24" is actually excellent gaming area for a game of this size. Movement scores and "costly" running make are in good balance - smallish table size cannot be run over and across too easily.
A quick word on all scenarios played:
First Battle Scene (goblin ambush on road):
Scene was still very easy, but I still think it should be that way, because it is there to teach game rules. We decided to play enemy phases so that we discussed what is probably the best (and vaguely realistic) way for goblins to act.
Second battle scene (goblins base camp in the forest ruins):
Here we had first real challenge. A few critical hits by goblins and a couple of good Fire damage rolls from goblin shaman against Zweihander forced Cleric to go and heal him. While Cleric was healing Zweihander, goblin archers scored lucky hits to the only unengaged adventurer - Flame Wizard. He fell unconscious in the battle.
Cleric saved up skill points then to have enough for Saving Grace - an ability to prevent injuries from falling down in battle. This had the impact that Cleric could not either heal nor effectively battle the goblins. He could, however, effectively tie goblins up.
After the Battle Scene a new nice feature came up that just isn't there when testing mechanics as a solo project - trading between players.
We had decided to collect our loot separately so that my group had their own treasury and my friends group had their own. Any items found were randomised between the group, and my Zweihander made a good roll and found the Copper Amulet from this scenario. We agreed on a price and so the item was given to the spellcasters, who really needed the hit point boost.
Next, then, the Giant Centipede was a major resource depletion. We were lucky enough that no adventurer fell unconscious, but we had something like below 5 combined skill points available for whole party.
When we arrived at the underground ritual, we were swarmed by the goblins inside and on two occasions the time counter was down to only 1 turn remaining. Eventually both Flame Wizard and Geomancer were using Defense -action every round engaged by three goblins and both had only very few hit points remaining. It was "kind of" exciting, but there sure was a little problem at least in the Geomancer's melee potential. In the end, however, we finished the scenario succesfully, and even got both of the rubies out of goblins' statue. This, however, made us spent just about all remaining skill points (even when we rolled a couple of Blue Potions from treasure table).
Last Battle Scene (the goblin attack on the village) felt a little bland, still... It could be we had started losing impetus a little, since we had been playing the whole adventure book in just one go.
Goblins were still very easy, and captain from the village single-handedly killed half of the goblins, Zweihander chiming in as a good second candidate. Cleric without skillpoints and Geomancer with only a couple of skill points ran to engage archers and were then using defense -action or attacked the goblins, but that was a damn slow progress right there.
All in all, we had good time and both saw the potential in the system.
However, yesterday that changed.
I played the adventure book A New Start with a friend. We both had two adventurers - my team being Zweihander with Charging Smash and Cleric with Smiting Words. My friend had Flame Wizard with Improved Fireball and Geomancer with Elemental Strike around. This was an excellent team for testing purposes - Zweihander and Geomancer being two of the newest additions to adventurer possibilities.
We played with Warmachine miniatures, though I have actually bought a couple of models to be used as adventurers later. But they will have to wait for a paintjob.
First, a thing that you cannot feel when playing as solo on Vassal, is the size of the gaming area. The size of 24" x 24" is actually excellent gaming area for a game of this size. Movement scores and "costly" running make are in good balance - smallish table size cannot be run over and across too easily.
A quick word on all scenarios played:
First Battle Scene (goblin ambush on road):
Scene was still very easy, but I still think it should be that way, because it is there to teach game rules. We decided to play enemy phases so that we discussed what is probably the best (and vaguely realistic) way for goblins to act.
Second battle scene (goblins base camp in the forest ruins):
Here we had first real challenge. A few critical hits by goblins and a couple of good Fire damage rolls from goblin shaman against Zweihander forced Cleric to go and heal him. While Cleric was healing Zweihander, goblin archers scored lucky hits to the only unengaged adventurer - Flame Wizard. He fell unconscious in the battle.
Cleric saved up skill points then to have enough for Saving Grace - an ability to prevent injuries from falling down in battle. This had the impact that Cleric could not either heal nor effectively battle the goblins. He could, however, effectively tie goblins up.
After the Battle Scene a new nice feature came up that just isn't there when testing mechanics as a solo project - trading between players.
We had decided to collect our loot separately so that my group had their own treasury and my friends group had their own. Any items found were randomised between the group, and my Zweihander made a good roll and found the Copper Amulet from this scenario. We agreed on a price and so the item was given to the spellcasters, who really needed the hit point boost.
Next, then, the Giant Centipede was a major resource depletion. We were lucky enough that no adventurer fell unconscious, but we had something like below 5 combined skill points available for whole party.
When we arrived at the underground ritual, we were swarmed by the goblins inside and on two occasions the time counter was down to only 1 turn remaining. Eventually both Flame Wizard and Geomancer were using Defense -action every round engaged by three goblins and both had only very few hit points remaining. It was "kind of" exciting, but there sure was a little problem at least in the Geomancer's melee potential. In the end, however, we finished the scenario succesfully, and even got both of the rubies out of goblins' statue. This, however, made us spent just about all remaining skill points (even when we rolled a couple of Blue Potions from treasure table).
Last Battle Scene (the goblin attack on the village) felt a little bland, still... It could be we had started losing impetus a little, since we had been playing the whole adventure book in just one go.
Goblins were still very easy, and captain from the village single-handedly killed half of the goblins, Zweihander chiming in as a good second candidate. Cleric without skillpoints and Geomancer with only a couple of skill points ran to engage archers and were then using defense -action or attacked the goblins, but that was a damn slow progress right there.
All in all, we had good time and both saw the potential in the system.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Rest of write-ups on Chronicles testing
So, I have two full tests on the first adventure of Chronicles.
Smaller one was done with 3 party members again.
This time I wanted to test a full ranged attack party with no adventurer who can survive in melee almost forever.
So, my party was:
Flame Wizard + Improved Fireball
Elf Hunter + Sword Fighter
Cleric + Smiting Words.
First scenario with basic rules:
Flame Wizard used 7 skill points in first scenario and got 26 gold.
Elf Hunter took 1 damage but didn't need to use skill points. Got 25 gold.
Cleric was damaged by 6 and used 7 skill points. Got 25 gold.
Tresure rolled was 30 gold coins. All in all, scenario was rather easy, but still the adventurers took a couple of damage.
First scenario with 1 point archers:
Flame Wizard used 4 skill points, got 15 gold and found potion of strenght.
Elf Hunter used 4 skill points, got 15 gold.
Cleric was damaged by 4 and used 4 skill points. Got 15 gold.
Attack rolls by adventurers were quite good in this game, so they didn't need to use much skill points. The one extra goblin didn't seem to make any actualy difference here.
Second scenario
Flame Wizard: 0 damage, used 5 skill points. Total gold 38, got blue potion and found copper amulet. Didn't use red potion.
Elf Hunter: 5 damage, used 3 skill points. Didn't use red potion. Got gem worth 10 gold. Total gold: 27.
Cleric: 0 damage, used 8 skill points. Didn't use red potion, total gold: 37.
Wasn't much of an effort this time, though Elf Hunter took a couple of nasty hits from goblin shaman. Good healing rolls compensated for that, though.
Second scenario with 1 point goblin archers
Flame Wizard: 1 damage, used 11 skill points. Found 10 gold gem from shaman and didn't use either red potion or potion of strenght. Total gold: 20.
Elf Hunter: 1 damage, used 3 skill points. Used Red Potion. Total gold: 25.
Cleric: 5 damage, used 9 skill points. Didn't use red potion. Found Copper Amulet. Total gold: 25.
Well, otherwise there would have been nothing exceptional here, but during one exceptional turn goblins brought the elf hunter down to only 3 hit points remaining, which was by then the closest call ever of a character death. This required for the elf hunter to run out of sight of goblins with Cleric trying to heal whatever he might.
Third Scenario (with Captain with 0-level gear)
Flame Wizard: 0 damage, used 10 skill points. Red Potion. 45 total gold. Used blue potion. Has Copper Amulet.
Elf Hunter: 6 damage, used 3 skill points. Red Potion. 44 total gold.
Cleric: 2 damage, used 9 skill points. Red Potion. 45 total gold.
Captain took 7 damage. All in all, there was no challenge to speak of even with a party who has no DEF to speak of.
Third Scenario (with Captain with 0-level gear, 1 point archers and goblin leader)
Flame Wizard: 3 damage, used 12 skill points (all!), still has potion of strenght & red potion. Total gold: 38
Elf Hunter: (I seem to have forgotten to mark damage/used skill points to my notes :/) total gold: 33.
Cleric: 7 damage, used 9 skill points. Still has red potion and copper amulet. Total gold: 33.
Captain took a beating this time, losing 12 hit points. Granted, here was a lot bad luck on adventurer's behalf, when against the odds goblins developed a knack of remaining alive with only one hit point. I was too afraid of getting anyone to actually help Captain, so there he was, stranded and alone when adventurers themselves tried to get the remaining few damages in.
Game 2:
Now I wanted to try how the game scales up with more players.
I used a party of 4, and now again without a healer.
Party included:
Flame Wizard + Swordsman of Fire (I wanted to try that, if Swordsman could actually give any bonuses worth anything.) And Very Lucky defining trait.
Elf Hunter + Sword Fighter.
Dwarf Warrior + Ancestral Armor + Very Strong defining trait.
Swordsman + Defensive Stance.
All of these meant a party of 26 points.
Scenario 1 with normal rules:
Flame Wizard: used 4 skill points. Found a gem worth 90 gold and 10 gold.
Elf Hunter: 10 damage, used 4 skill points. Got 18 gold.
Dwarf Warrior: 2 damage, used 6 skill points. Got 18 gold.
Human Swordsman: 2 damage, used 6 skill points. Had to spend 2 SP to run to go and help Elf Hunter! Found 18 gold.
Well, the only excitement here was when the poor Elf Hunter thought he could actually survive in melee when goblins scored a couple of nasty hits on the elf. It was bad choice from me to try and rush with the elf forward, when the melee monsters a little back were lucky enough to miss a couple of hits I had counted on.
I didn't actually play more than first scenario with normal rules, because I felt like I had seen enough game balance there.
Scenario 1 with 1 point goblin archers:
Flame Wizard: 2 damage, used 11 skill points. Gold: 17.
Elf Hunter: 5 damage, used 6 skill points. Found potion of strenght. Gold: 17.
Dwarf Warrior: 3 damage, used 1 skill point. Gold: 16.
Swordsman: 4 damage, used 4 skill points. Gold: 16.
With second try with a 4 member party, it felt that the difficulty raises a bit with more characters. There just isn't enough ranged attacks available to kill enough goblins so they can't effectively swamp. However, it only meant that every adventurer took a couple of damage.
Scenario 2 with 1 point goblin archers:
Flame Wizard: 1 damage, used 5 skill points. 26 gold, 2x red potions (found one extra as a treasure)
Elf Hunter: 7 damage, used 2 skill points. Potion of Strenght. Total gold: 25. Elf Hunter used the red potion.
Dwarf: 6 damage, used 2 skill points. Total gold 24. Skill points were used for running so goblin shaman wouldn't cast yet another devastating fireball!
Swordsman: 4 damage, used 1 skill points. Total gold 16. Still has red potion. Found a gem worth 40 gold, and miraculously got Copper Necklace.
Now, this scenario was a blast. It required a lot more effort now the place was swarming with goblins and it was difficult to carve a path to kill goblin shaman fast enough. This meant that both dwarf and elf had to drink their red potions not to risk anything, especially when there was no chance of rest before next fight. Difficulty seemed to be okayish.
Scenario 3 with... something completely different!
Okay, so I have been in contact with the developer and he told how he just slapped 2 skill points to every and all goblins. So before I started to write these things up I decided to play again the last scenario with this party of 4 and use following rules:
-Captain with no upgrades.
-2 point goblin archers (I thought that adding of 2 SP would make them a lot more powerful)
-Goblin Leader
-2 skill points on every goblin.
And here are the results:
Flame Wizard: 6 damage, used 8 skill points (had to run to get goblin leader into line of sight) Total gold: 34, 2x red potions
Elf Hunter: 11 damage, had to defend a few turns in melee because everyone else was too tied up to help! Used 4 skill points. Potion of Strenght. Total gold: 33.
Dwarf: Took a whopping 12 damage and used 5 skill points. Total gold: 33.
Swordsman: 6 damage, used 5 skill points. Total gold: 64. Red potion, Copper Necklace.
Captain... Captain took 17 damage. With no upgrades he was barely left alive with only 3 hit points remaining. Adding 2 skill points to every goblin had a huge impact on their effectiveness, and I feel this is the way to go, not lowering the point cost of archers. It brings a lot more choices to the game, when you can priorise your targets for example on the fact have they used their skill points or not.
This was also the first time ever I had to resort to using the Defending action in combat not to get elf hunter killed.
Smaller one was done with 3 party members again.
This time I wanted to test a full ranged attack party with no adventurer who can survive in melee almost forever.
So, my party was:
Flame Wizard + Improved Fireball
Elf Hunter + Sword Fighter
Cleric + Smiting Words.
First scenario with basic rules:
Flame Wizard used 7 skill points in first scenario and got 26 gold.
Elf Hunter took 1 damage but didn't need to use skill points. Got 25 gold.
Cleric was damaged by 6 and used 7 skill points. Got 25 gold.
Tresure rolled was 30 gold coins. All in all, scenario was rather easy, but still the adventurers took a couple of damage.
First scenario with 1 point archers:
Flame Wizard used 4 skill points, got 15 gold and found potion of strenght.
Elf Hunter used 4 skill points, got 15 gold.
Cleric was damaged by 4 and used 4 skill points. Got 15 gold.
Attack rolls by adventurers were quite good in this game, so they didn't need to use much skill points. The one extra goblin didn't seem to make any actualy difference here.
Second scenario
Flame Wizard: 0 damage, used 5 skill points. Total gold 38, got blue potion and found copper amulet. Didn't use red potion.
Elf Hunter: 5 damage, used 3 skill points. Didn't use red potion. Got gem worth 10 gold. Total gold: 27.
Cleric: 0 damage, used 8 skill points. Didn't use red potion, total gold: 37.
Wasn't much of an effort this time, though Elf Hunter took a couple of nasty hits from goblin shaman. Good healing rolls compensated for that, though.
Second scenario with 1 point goblin archers
Flame Wizard: 1 damage, used 11 skill points. Found 10 gold gem from shaman and didn't use either red potion or potion of strenght. Total gold: 20.
Elf Hunter: 1 damage, used 3 skill points. Used Red Potion. Total gold: 25.
Cleric: 5 damage, used 9 skill points. Didn't use red potion. Found Copper Amulet. Total gold: 25.
Well, otherwise there would have been nothing exceptional here, but during one exceptional turn goblins brought the elf hunter down to only 3 hit points remaining, which was by then the closest call ever of a character death. This required for the elf hunter to run out of sight of goblins with Cleric trying to heal whatever he might.
Third Scenario (with Captain with 0-level gear)
Flame Wizard: 0 damage, used 10 skill points. Red Potion. 45 total gold. Used blue potion. Has Copper Amulet.
Elf Hunter: 6 damage, used 3 skill points. Red Potion. 44 total gold.
Cleric: 2 damage, used 9 skill points. Red Potion. 45 total gold.
Captain took 7 damage. All in all, there was no challenge to speak of even with a party who has no DEF to speak of.
Third Scenario (with Captain with 0-level gear, 1 point archers and goblin leader)
Flame Wizard: 3 damage, used 12 skill points (all!), still has potion of strenght & red potion. Total gold: 38
Elf Hunter: (I seem to have forgotten to mark damage/used skill points to my notes :/) total gold: 33.
Cleric: 7 damage, used 9 skill points. Still has red potion and copper amulet. Total gold: 33.
Captain took a beating this time, losing 12 hit points. Granted, here was a lot bad luck on adventurer's behalf, when against the odds goblins developed a knack of remaining alive with only one hit point. I was too afraid of getting anyone to actually help Captain, so there he was, stranded and alone when adventurers themselves tried to get the remaining few damages in.
Game 2:
Now I wanted to try how the game scales up with more players.
I used a party of 4, and now again without a healer.
Party included:
Flame Wizard + Swordsman of Fire (I wanted to try that, if Swordsman could actually give any bonuses worth anything.) And Very Lucky defining trait.
Elf Hunter + Sword Fighter.
Dwarf Warrior + Ancestral Armor + Very Strong defining trait.
Swordsman + Defensive Stance.
All of these meant a party of 26 points.
Scenario 1 with normal rules:
Flame Wizard: used 4 skill points. Found a gem worth 90 gold and 10 gold.
Elf Hunter: 10 damage, used 4 skill points. Got 18 gold.
Dwarf Warrior: 2 damage, used 6 skill points. Got 18 gold.
Human Swordsman: 2 damage, used 6 skill points. Had to spend 2 SP to run to go and help Elf Hunter! Found 18 gold.
Well, the only excitement here was when the poor Elf Hunter thought he could actually survive in melee when goblins scored a couple of nasty hits on the elf. It was bad choice from me to try and rush with the elf forward, when the melee monsters a little back were lucky enough to miss a couple of hits I had counted on.
I didn't actually play more than first scenario with normal rules, because I felt like I had seen enough game balance there.
Scenario 1 with 1 point goblin archers:
Flame Wizard: 2 damage, used 11 skill points. Gold: 17.
Elf Hunter: 5 damage, used 6 skill points. Found potion of strenght. Gold: 17.
Dwarf Warrior: 3 damage, used 1 skill point. Gold: 16.
Swordsman: 4 damage, used 4 skill points. Gold: 16.
With second try with a 4 member party, it felt that the difficulty raises a bit with more characters. There just isn't enough ranged attacks available to kill enough goblins so they can't effectively swamp. However, it only meant that every adventurer took a couple of damage.
Scenario 2 with 1 point goblin archers:
Flame Wizard: 1 damage, used 5 skill points. 26 gold, 2x red potions (found one extra as a treasure)
Elf Hunter: 7 damage, used 2 skill points. Potion of Strenght. Total gold: 25. Elf Hunter used the red potion.
Dwarf: 6 damage, used 2 skill points. Total gold 24. Skill points were used for running so goblin shaman wouldn't cast yet another devastating fireball!
Swordsman: 4 damage, used 1 skill points. Total gold 16. Still has red potion. Found a gem worth 40 gold, and miraculously got Copper Necklace.
Now, this scenario was a blast. It required a lot more effort now the place was swarming with goblins and it was difficult to carve a path to kill goblin shaman fast enough. This meant that both dwarf and elf had to drink their red potions not to risk anything, especially when there was no chance of rest before next fight. Difficulty seemed to be okayish.
Scenario 3 with... something completely different!
Okay, so I have been in contact with the developer and he told how he just slapped 2 skill points to every and all goblins. So before I started to write these things up I decided to play again the last scenario with this party of 4 and use following rules:
-Captain with no upgrades.
-2 point goblin archers (I thought that adding of 2 SP would make them a lot more powerful)
-Goblin Leader
-2 skill points on every goblin.
And here are the results:
Flame Wizard: 6 damage, used 8 skill points (had to run to get goblin leader into line of sight) Total gold: 34, 2x red potions
Elf Hunter: 11 damage, had to defend a few turns in melee because everyone else was too tied up to help! Used 4 skill points. Potion of Strenght. Total gold: 33.
Dwarf: Took a whopping 12 damage and used 5 skill points. Total gold: 33.
Swordsman: 6 damage, used 5 skill points. Total gold: 64. Red potion, Copper Necklace.
Captain... Captain took 17 damage. With no upgrades he was barely left alive with only 3 hit points remaining. Adding 2 skill points to every goblin had a huge impact on their effectiveness, and I feel this is the way to go, not lowering the point cost of archers. It brings a lot more choices to the game, when you can priorise your targets for example on the fact have they used their skill points or not.
This was also the first time ever I had to resort to using the Defending action in combat not to get elf hunter killed.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
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.
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.
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