Replay 1 - Session 4 - Fried lizards!

System Changes

Well, last time wasn't that good... wasn't it? I ended up by writing that I was going to switch systems after the dungeon was over, I was feeling defeated by my own invention. But I did say that I was play-testing the thing. So let's make changes instead, the first and most major change is how rolling dice work. The previous version was a 2D6 system, that means you roll two six sided die and you add them together. I will switch this to be a D6 system in general.

Instead of rolling 2D6 plus or minus a modifier, you roll D6 equals to the modifier, with a minimum of 1 die. In the past, if your character had +3 DEX and the enemy Armor Level was 2, you'd roll 2D6 + 1. If the roll was equals or higher than 8, it was a success. Now, in the same example you roll 1D + 1D, and the condition for success is that at least one of them equals 4 or more. In the past +2 DEX attacking an enemy with 4 AL was 2D6 - 2. Now it is 1D, as the minimum is only one die. That means that even if you are in a very disadvantageous situation, you still have a 50% chance to succeed.

I reduced the amount of armor provided by having armor, for both party members and enemies. Enemies, in particular, have their armor equal their level, and only receive +1 armor bonus if the enemy is considered armored. Attacks were also streamlined to their level to hit with modifiers that range from -2 to +2 depending on added effects.

The last thing is on exhausting, exhausting an attribute now always adds an additional rolling die, independent of modifiers to the roll, and can be done after the check or attack has already failed. They are also all recovered on long rests. This may be too much, and if it is the case then I'll remove the mechanic entirely since I forget about it like 90% of the time. I feel like health should go up to balance the higher probability of success, so health is doubled for humanoids... and I changed the way health is calculated for monsters. I also plan to change the way magic works because now powerful spells are easier to cast... but for now I'll keep it; the party has no powerful spells regardless so it's not like it matters.

Replay

Demdem: "That was terrible, we are certainly ill fit for adventure."

Gertosel approached the armors and knocked on one of the breastplates.

Gertosel: "Hey, at least we've got something out of this. I'll take the sword, Ferem put on this armor."
Ferem: "If I put that on I won't be able to sneak properly."
Gertosel: "It's okay, you won't need sneaking, this place is rather small."

And so Ferem put on the breastplate and Gertosel took the sword.

Ferem: "This door is open and there is no trap."

The room on the other side is not that large. Most of the space is cleared for a large magic circle that is on the ground. There are three gems on the ground surrounding the circle. There is also a door north.

Gertosel: "What is this?"
Suilandos: Intelligence — Fail "Is it for summoning?"
Demdem: Intelligence — Success "It is for teleportation, actually. But the circle is broken."
Ferem: "Where does it go?"
Demdem: "There is no way to tell, it could be a trap..."
Gertosel: "Yeah, let's grab these gems and leave."

The door north is already open. Looking inside the party finds a toilet and a large hole where the wall once was, the stone floor turns to dirt.

Suilandos: "It's a cave... it probably goes to the exterior."
Demdem: "Spirits of the earth... dwarves... hear my call..."

Demdem stood in front of the hole reciting a spell, a green glow appeared on the dirt on the ground. Then, from below the earth, small creatures; 10cm long, emerged. Wearing brown vests and pants, long white beards, muscular little men looked at Demdem.

Dwarf: "Who ya calling?"
Demdem: "It is you, who I am calling."
Dwarf: "Then get it over with. What ya want?"
Demdem: "I was wondering about this hole."
Dwarf: "Some lizards made it."
Demdem: "Was it too long ago?"
Dwarf: "Long, short, I don't know."
Demdem: "All right, that's enough, thank you for coming."
Dwarf: "Yeah, whatever."

The small creatures faded into nothingness.

Ferem: "Should we go through the hole..."
Gertosel: "No way, there are only lizards there, no treasure at all."
Suilandos: "Maybe we should leave."
Demdem: "There's not enough money to pay for our exploration yet, let's keep going some more."

I rolled a 1 for wandering monsters, so as soon as they start talking about this a lizardman appears from the hole in the wall. There are three more behind him, they are all carrying spears.

Suilandos: "Ah!"
Gertosel: Charisma — Success "Hey, hey, hey... it's all right, no need to point us with the spears..."

The lizardmen looked at each other, and then back at Gertosel.

Lizardman: "You, leave."
Gertosel: "We leave, yes."

The party leaves the room at the request of the lizardmen, they are being chased by them up to the corridor. After they find the corpses they start talking to each other.

Lizardman: "Who killed them?"
Gertosel: Charisma — Success "We don't know, they may be further that way."

Gertosel pointed at the corridor from where they came. The lizardmen looked at each other, and then the direction, and proceeded to march towards the corridor.

Gertosel: "All right let's get going quickly before they come back."
Ferem: Wisdom — Fail "All right, let's keep going."
Demdem: Wisdom — Success "No, wait, there is something odd about that wall."

Demdem pointed at the wall with his staff and Ferem walked up to it.

Ferem: "There is a secret door here, let's close it and hide inside."

The party goes inside the secret room past the west wall. The room is dark and there is a large cauldron with dark brown liquid inside of it. There is a large valve next to the wall. There are also some herbs and an aid potion.

Suilandos: "We should rest... I am so tired..."
Ferem: "Yeah let's eat and sleep here, no one will notice us."
Gertosel: "All right, I'll watch just in case. Ferem, you should do it too."
Demdem: "I'll go to bed after eating."
Ferem: "I'll keep watch after yours is done."

The party eats and takes a long rest. I'll mark the supplies we have consumed. We still have a lot of rations, perhaps too many. On the other hand there are not that many oil flasks for the lantern. Suilandos has a light spell, which could help later, but that's about it. Now I'll roll for random encounters, twice.

5 and 4. It's fine, nothing attacks the party while resting, it seems like the lizardmen probably wandered off somewhere else.

Demdem: "There is another door this way."
Ferem: "It's already open."

Peeking at the other side of the door the party finds a large room with two large pillars and a large stone door; the door has 3 small holes shaped like spheres. There is currently a silver sphere inside.

Ferem: Intelligence - Success "Is it like the golden orb I collected earlier?"

Ferem tries to put the golden orb in the hole but it doesn't fit.

Demdem: "It probably needs more silver orbs."
Gertosel: "Can't we just blow it up?"
Suilandos: "Don't you remember what I said about bombs?"
Demdem: "Maybe with a magic b—"

But before he could finish the sentence the rest of the party was already approaching the door west.

Ferem: "It is closed."
Demdem: "Can you open it?"
Ferem: Dexterity — Fail "Hmm... there's no use."
Suilandos: "Big brother, you are so cool!"
Ferem: "I didn't even get it right!"
Suilandos: "It was motivational — don't let yourself get down~★"
Gertosel: "All right let me hack at it with my axe..."
Gertosel: "Hyaaa!" Strength — Success

With a loud thud the section holding the door together bends and with a good push it breaks open. At the same time Suilandos changes the oil of the lantern one last time.

That was the last flask... lol. They have 6 dungeon turns now, so around an hour, plus the light spell, so another 6 turns. Technically, if they sleep again they'll be able to get another use of the spell, so perhaps there is more than enough.

At the other side of the door they meet with some familiar faces. 5 lizardmen are looking at them, and as soon as they are seen, they point towards them and a spear goes flying by almost hitting Gertosel, who was approaching with the intent to talk.

Yeah, these guys are not playing around now, not after the little trick the party played on them earlier. So it is combat... with the new configuration, let's see what happens. I already have plans for a full overhaul, but for now let's use this hacked version. All right. Enemies win the initiative. The turn order is: Enemy, enemy, ally, enemy, ally, enemy, ally, enemy, ally. Due to the corridor being small only 2 can be in the front row at a time.

All right, Lizardman A goes first, who would have guessed! He lounges at... let me roll to see, under 4 is Ferem, otherwise it is Gertosel. I rolled a 5, Gertosel is the target of the spear — the spear hits his arm dealing 4 damage. Lizardman B attacks Ferem, it hits his chest through the breastplate also dealing 4 damage.

Ferem's turn, he retaliates against Lizardman B. His first attack cuts the face of the creature making a slight bruise, 1 damage. Panic by being damaged (something that wasn't happening until now, for some reason) he attacks again only able to deal another 1 damage. Lizardman C will throw his spear at Suilandos dealing 5 damage to him. Honestly, this is not looking good, time to pull out the big guns.

Suilandos will try to cast Forked Lightning (Level 2) at the two lizardmen in front. It succeeds! The lightning splits and hits both of them, dealing 5 damage. Fried lizard, they are still standing — these inflated hit-points are something else.

Okay, Lizardman D's turn is up. Since he can attack he will throw his spear, let's say... at Suilandos since he's the lad who just cooked two of his brethren. The spear hits him, dealing 4 more damage. Hmm... You know what I am noticing? Because there are so many attacks landing I can't describe unique things, usually one attack or two attacks is enough to murder someone... but now these characters can take a beating.

I've read some other RPG replays and they don't narrate the combat turn by turn. Maybe I should try that. It was better when it was lethal but... if they hit more the lethal aspect is like... whoever goes first wins. All right, I'll tell you only the important bits.

Demdem casts Grappling Vine on Lizardman A. A vine emerges from the ground squizzing his legs in place. After a spear flies through the air, hitting the wall, Gertosel takes the opportunity and strikes Lizardman A with his new sword - 6 damage. The blade cuts through the chest of the creature and it falls to the ground.

Lizardman C moves forward and picks up one of the spears, as a cover up Lizardman B attacks Gertosel but he blocks it with his shield. And from the shadows beneath the shields in a quick motion like the wind, Ferem strikes, it is a critical hit! Both daggers pushed into the neck of the creature dealing a total of 12 damage, it is very much dead.

I love the easy critical of daggers, deals like 1 or 2 damage and then - bam! 12 damage.

Lizardman D approaches, Demdem casts a Guided Bolt to Lizardman C, barely damaging it. Ferem is hit by various spears, hurting him badly.

Demdem will cast Enchant Weapon on Gertosel. I'll make it so it has the same effect as exhausting, because otherwise this spell has no effect at all. With his shining sword Gertosel attacks the lizarman attacking Ferem... but he misses. Three dice... three dice one for the attack, one for the enchanted weapon and another one for exhausting dexterity — and still he missed. Never change bro, no matter the system you are a bum.

Suilandos casts Forked Lightning striking both of them for 8 damage, with one of them falling to the ground the lizardmen decide to run away.

Both of the remaining lizardmen run towards a door to the north. The corridor now only has corpses. There is a chair and a table, and a large painting of a flower field. Two doors south, and the most notable of all, a large mirror which doesn't seem to show a reflection.

Demdem: "You should drink this..."

Demdem gives Ferem an Aid Potion. He recovers... 2 hits points. That wasn't that good.

Suilandos: "You should have mine too."
Ferem: "No, it's fine, you can keep it."
Gertosel: "We should rest here for a bit, let's eat something."

After the party took a short rest they approached the large mirror. It was large enough to cover the whole wall.

Demdem: "Let me see..." Wisdom - Success "Ah, this is a magic mirror. It probably wants something specific to be reflected."
Ferem: "For what purpose?"
Suilandos: Intelligence - Success "There should be some kind of door behind."
Gertosel: "If that's the case then let's just bash the damn thing."

Gertosel tried to hit the mirror with his ax but it bounced right off.

Gertosel: "Huh... that's weird."
Demdem: "It is magical, after all. Your brick head tactics will not work with this thing."
Ferem: "Maybe I could move it away... let me try."
Ferem: Dexterity — Success "I think I've got it off the wall. Can you try lifting it?"

Gertosel lifted the mirror and it moved easily, revealing a door behind, just as it was presumed. The interior of the room was a bedroom, as soon as they entered the party started searching for any treasure.

Good, let's make a recounting of all the stuff they find.

Demdem: "I've found some gold in this desk. 13 coins."
Gertosel: "Good, I think we paid our investment, especially now that I found these three shiny gems."
Suilandos: "Hmm... Here's a weird book." Intelligence — Success "It is a diary, but it is written in code, it'll probably take weeks to solve it."
Ferem: "Oh, would you look at these."

Ferem found two small silver spheres, just like the one that was in the stone door.

Demdem: Wisdom — Fail "All right, I think that's about it."

I am not going to exhaust anything in that, under the current setting it is too easy and the difficulty of the original check was 3. Basically, there is a very good hidden room here, it has a lot of cool stuff, but it's hard to find. It's not hard anymore because the minimum is 50%. I'll say that they didn't find it.

Suilandos: "Now that we got the treasure, we should probably leave..."
Gertosel: "But what about the large door?"
Demdem: "Hmm... I am curious as well."
Ferem: "Since we've got the spheres we should probably try them on the door."
Demdem: "If it seems like dangerous business it should be time to take our leave."

The party came back from where they came, trying to avoid meddling with any more doors and corridors. On their way they saw both doors in the south and the door at the north. The door at the north was the one the lizardmen used to leave, it was another toilet, with another large hole leading to a cave.

Ferem: "If we don't want to take the long way back maybe we should leave through the cave—"

The party arrived at the large stone door while talking to each other... east was a dark corridor that twisted to the south... and then darkness filled the room. The lantern ran out of oil.

Gertosel: "Damn it, put more oil in that thing!"
Suilandos: "We don't have any more oil... but I've got a light spell."

There is a growl coming from the darkness...

Demdem: "Suilandos, cast the spell - quickly!"

...

And that's where I am going to leave this session for now. The next one should be the last one still using this system, after that I'll try something else, maybe with the same party... maybe some new faces... who knows. I love these guys, don't get me wrong, they are very fun.