Savage Marches

[bladerunner_35]

Also I noticed that Enock's charisma is listed as 0 (1). What does this mean? According to my knowledge he should be at -1 from his Major Hindrance One Eye.

He only get's the -1 penalty to charisma if he doesn't cover up his bad eye or replace it with a glass eye.

I know. Enock is 'ardcore man. 'Ardcore.

And incidentally if he get's -1 in charisma he should get +1 in intimidation!

[nDervish]

I just wanted to double-check something:

When our characters reach 5 exp and we purchase advancements - we need to choose wether to purchase advancements for the Song (which cannot die) or the Host (which can). Is this correct?

Nope. The Song and the host each have their own XP totals. At this point, everyone's Song and host have the same XP totals, so, if you get 3 XP tonight without dying, then both Enock and The Lamenting Song of Obedience would get Advances.

If, on the other hand, you get 3 XP tonight, but Enock dies and you take on Piff Longflower as your new host, then The Lamenting Song would have 5 XP and get an Advance, but Piff would only have 3 XP and not get one until (probably) next time.

(This is, incidentally, the reason that Songs start with shit attributes, no skills, no edges, and are only allowed to take non-Power Advances that the host already has. Otherwise, getting double XP/double Advances would push the power curve too far, too fast.)

Also I noticed that Enock's charisma is listed as 0 (1). What does this mean? According to my knowledge he should be at -1 from his Major Hindrance One Eye.

He only get's the -1 penalty to charisma if he doesn't cover up his bad eye or replace it with a glass eye.

Yep, exactly. Just like Toughness 7 (1) means "Toughness 7 total, of which 1 comes from equipment (armor)", Charisma 0 (1) means "0 total, of which 1 comes from equipment (a glass eye or eyepatch)".

[bladerunner_35]

I just wanted to double-check something:

When our characters reach 5 exp and we purchase advancements - we need to choose wether to purchase advancements for the Song (which cannot die) or the Host (which can). Is this correct?

Nope. The Song and the host each have their own XP totals. At this point, everyone's Song and host have the same XP totals, so, if you get 3 XP tonight without dying, then both Enock and The Lamenting Song of Obedience would get Advances.

If, on the other hand, you get 3 XP tonight, but Enock dies and you take on Piff Longflower as your new host, then The Lamenting Song would have 5 XP and get an Advance, but Piff would only have 3 XP and not get one until (probably) next time.

That's good I like it. I was prepared to make some tough choices on where to invest my points.

However, if Piff Longflower would become my host I would kill it with fire. On that subject, how much leevay do we have in chosing a new host. Is it just the closest one and that's that?

Also I noticed that Enock's charisma is listed as 0 (1). What does this mean? According to my knowledge he should be at -1 from his Major Hindrance One Eye.

He only get's the -1 penalty to charisma if he doesn't cover up his bad eye or replace it with a glass eye.

Yep, exactly. Just like Toughness 7 (1) means "Toughness 7 total, of which 1 comes from equipment (armor)", Charisma 0 (1) means "0 total, of which 1 comes from equipment (a glass eye or eyepatch)".

Right, Enock isn't using any corrective cosmetics fyi.

[God45]

I have done some planning for how to kill the king. And I think we can do it with no causality's except some dogs and without risking any other characters except Spellbutcher.

Step 1: We get to where the Ghuls are. If they follow the same tactics that they did the first time the king will be in the frontline.

Step 2: Spellbucher rides up to the king with a line of dogs directly in front of Spellbutchers horse.

Step 3: Spellbutcher does a riding savage attack on the king. Spellbutcher can attack over the dogs because his weapon have reach. A riding savage attack would give a +6 to attack and damage. I can then spend bennies until I get a raise on the attack which should not be hard with a base +6. Then I roll 6+2d6+1d8 and hopefully kills the king.

Step 4: Spellbutcher rides away without being attacked since the dogs are blocking the ghuls from attacking him.

Step 5: Victory party!

What do you guys think?

[nDervish]

However, if Piff Longflower would become my host I would kill it with fire.

Why do you think I chose her for the example?

On that subject, how much leevay do we have in chosing a new host. Is it just the closest one and that's that?

I've gone around and around in my head several times about that (closest? random? choose?), but, when Alaric died, I let Sebastian choose freely from the henchmen who were in the battle. I don't see any reason not to stay with that precedent.

Right, Enock isn't using any corrective cosmetics fyi.

Ah, ok. The character portrait looks to me like he's got a glass eye, so I assumed that was your intention.

I have done some planning for how to kill the king.
...
What do you guys think?

That's an... interesting... plan...

[Arcturus]

Speaking of future hosts.... Would it be possible for us to come up with new characters as potential "backups/henchmen" for when we die with our current hosts? Thus allowing us to customize a bit our future adventure experience?

[nDervish]

Speaking of future hosts.... Would it be possible for us to come up with new characters as potential "backups/henchmen" for when we die with our current hosts? Thus allowing us to customize a bit our future adventure experience?

Another thing I've considered is allowing you to change hosts freely while in Eastmere between expeditions (call it a feature of the mithril statue), which would let you change into a hand-built character instead of a random one if you end up coming home in a body you don't like.

We can certainly do that if you want to, but I also want to be sure that there's enough of a cost to it so that nobody feels like they should be changing into a new, custom-built body every week just because their current host has Swimming d4 and they're about to take a trip into the desert.

Definite limitations/disadvantages to downtime switches:

• You must change into a brand-new character with 0 XP. (When moving into a henchman after dying in the field, the henchman may already be experienced, plus you still get full XP for that session.)
• The new host must have all attributes and non-Power skills, plus as many non-Power Edges as possible, at a level no lower than the Song. (This is so that you don't min-max by buying your Song's Fighting up to d12 and then only using custom hosts with no Fighting skill of their own at all.)

I'm inclined at this point to also say that losing a point of Reputation would be an appropriate cost, but I'm open to other suggestions.

[bladerunner_35]

I have done some planning for how to kill the king. And I think we can do it with no causality's except some dogs and without risking any other characters except Spellbutcher.

Step 1: We get to where the Ghuls are. If they follow the same tactics that they did the first time the king will be in the frontline.

Step 2: Spellbucher rides up to the king with a line of dogs directly in front of Spellbutchers horse.

Step 3: Spellbutcher does a riding savage attack on the king. Spellbutcher can attack over the dogs because his weapon have reach. A riding savage attack would give a +6 to attack and damage. I can then spend bennies until I get a raise on the attack which should not be hard with a base +6. Then I roll 6+2d6+1d8 and hopefully kills the king.

Step 4: Spellbutcher rides away without being attacked since the dogs are blocking the ghuls from attacking him.

Step 5: Victory party!

What do you guys think?

Some thoughts on the plan:

I think it is good although a bit of a risk (since we do not know the system (or the stats of the king) well enough yet). We should leave it as a last "secret weapon" or final charge.

Essentially I am thinking the order of business would be something like this when we approach Elderone:

1. A few stealthy characters (probably Enock and Dree) scout the village while the rest of the party stands ready in case they need to retreat in a hurry.

Once we have located the ghouls and the "king" we decide if we should do a frontal assault or try to draw them out. We'll only consider a frontal assault if it seems that we have a significant advantage. Assuming we don't the next step would be:

2. Set up traps and set up a skirmishing line with our ranged fighters protected by our melee fighters.

3. Send in the dogs and in the ensuing chaos pepper the ghouls from afar with everything we've got. At this point we should concentrate our fire at the weaker ghouls instead of the king.

We will also need to be ready for a charge from the king and or his ghouls or the opposite, if they flee. Having Spellbutcher on a horse throughout the battle is a good idea.

4. When the weaker ghouls are all dead we take out their king, either from afar or in melee. If the king charges and we have dogs left we will make use of Spellbutchers plan. Otherwise a couple of our melee fighter will have to pin him down (perhaps using Defend) so Spellbutcher can finish him.

We should all be ready with at least one trick or taunt each in order to bring down the king. Enock can try to Intimidate but Smarts or Agility tricks is probably our best bet.


Some thoughs on Hosts and Songs and new characters:

• I like the fact we might have to roleplay characters we might not otherwise have chosen to play.
• That said the campaign and Savage Worlds are "gamey" and it would really suck to be stuck with a pacifist for instance.
• I would like it if we played about more with the whole possessed angle. Perhaps requiring some sort of trait-test in order to select a host other than the closest. If anyone has seen this movie you know what I'm talking about: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119099/ and the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mth5u2PPFbY
• The possibility to change host in Eastmere could be a good compromise, especially if it comes with a cost. However, I am reluctant for a mechanic that might unbalance PCs between eachother by having one have more experience than another.
• I wouldn't mind creating a couple of henchmen myself, say each player can make 2 each in order to up the chances of a cool host.

I will be at DMF around 17 today if someone wants to shoot the breeze.

[God45]

Essentially I am thinking the order of business would be something like this when we approach Elderone:

1. A few stealthy characters (probably Enock and Dree) scout the village while the rest of the party stands ready in case they need to retreat in a hurry.

Once we have located the ghouls and the "king" we decide if we should do a frontal assault or try to draw them out. We'll only consider a frontal assault if it seems that we have a significant advantage. Assuming we don't the next step would be:

2. Set up traps and set up a skirmishing line with our ranged fighters protected by our melee fighters.

3. Send in the dogs and in the ensuing chaos pepper the ghouls from afar with everything we've got. At this point we should concentrate our fire at the weaker ghouls instead of the king.

We will also need to be ready for a charge from the king and or his ghouls or the opposite, if they flee. Having Spellbutcher on a horse throughout the battle is a good idea.

4. When the weaker ghouls are all dead we take out their king, either from afar or in melee. If the king charges and we have dogs left we will make use of Spellbutchers plan. Otherwise a couple of our melee fighter will have to pin him down (perhaps using Defend) so Spellbutcher can finish him.

We should all be ready with at least one trick or taunt each in order to bring down the king. Enock can try to Intimidate but Smarts or Agility tricks is probably our best bet.

This sounds like a great plan We are gonna win this!

Regarding the hosts I like to just pick one of the NPC:s present. It makes it so that you are right back in the action. The fact that we haven't constructed the NPC:s ads the element of playing with stuff I wouldn`t have picked myself (the animal friend spell have been great fun to play with but I would newer have picked it myself) but at the same time the ability to pick which one of the NPC:s you want to play allows you to avoid the pacifist or other characters that you really don`t want to play. I for example really didn't want to play the guy that was fat-fobic so I was happy that I could pick Spellbutcher instead.

[nDervish]

I would like it if we played about more with the whole possessed angle. Perhaps requiring some sort of trait-test in order to select a host other than the closest. If anyone has seen this movie you know what I'm talking about: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119099/ and the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mth5u2PPFbY

Agreed, although that raises questions of balancing the Song's personality against the host's. Specifically, if the Song is strongly "possessing" the host, then why are the host's psychological hindrances relevant? (And, why doesn't the Song have psychological hindrances of its own?)

Perhaps spend a benny for your Song's "personality" to override the host's for a scene? And, along with this, allow you to optionally give your Song its own set of (psychological) Hindrances, I suppose.

However, I am reluctant for a mechanic that might unbalance PCs between eachother by having one have more experience than another.

Two things to remember there:

1) Everything I've read (both the rules themselves and forum conversations about the system and how it plays) seems to say that Savage Worlds deals with varied PC power levels pretty well, so it's unlikely to cause problems.

2) It's going to happen anyhow. The West Marches structure is designed to let some players play more than others, which will cause Song power levels to diverge. On top of that, dying and moving to a new host will generally mean a drop in host XP, since any individual henchman won't be participating in nearly as many expeditions as a Deva will.

I wouldn't mind creating a couple of henchmen myself, say each player can make 2 each in order to up the chances of a cool host.

Go ahead! Make as many as you want! There are currently about 90 able-bodied NPCs in Eastmere who haven't been statted up yet.

My main reason for using the random generator is simply because it's the easiest way for me to produce a list of 6 new NPCs for a session.

Player-created NPCs will ultimately end up going into the general NPC pool to be randomly selected, the same as my randomly-generated NPCs, but I'm fine with saying that, for each player who has given me NPCs that haven't appeared in-game yet, I'll put one of that player's NPCs into the next session they play in. So, e.g., if you give me three NPCs tonight, I'll randomly pick one of them to appear as a henchman the next time you play, another for the time after that, and the third the time after that. (And don't forget that, for each time they survive an expedition, that will provide an increased chance of them showing up again for all future sessions.)

Sound good to you?

[bladerunner_35]

Sounds good to me, assuming you don't feel like handing out a bennie per created npc? *nudge nudge wink wink*

Any chance you'll come around the place earlier than 18? It's locked...

[bladerunner_35]

Hey Dave, I like the sessions but do you think you can include the + or - to reputation as well as the experience gained?

I'll be trying to update the wiki now on my lunch break and throughout the day. Let me know if I break anything.

Also, unless it is too much work - could you list the loot as well?

[nDervish]

Hey Dave, I like the sessions but do you think you can include the + or - to reputation as well as the experience gained?

Sure. The session summary pages already have the information needed to calclulate rep changes (deaths, Ruin reduction, FTMIS gains), but also explicitly stating the end result is a good idea.

I'll be trying to update the wiki now on my lunch break and throughout the day. Let me know if I break anything.

When you added the text about Gych and Dree to the Camedge page, those links didn't work because links to characters/items (as opposed to normal wiki pages) have to be all-lowercase. So [[:gych-spellbutcher]] instead of [[:Gych-Spellbutcher]]. I don't think I've noticed anything else broken aside from that.

I also forgot to unhide the Zombie page, so I did that and replaced your Zombies page with it. I'm leaving the Ghoul King and Spike Monster pages alone, at least for now. The ghoul king you fought last night was a unique individual, so I don't have a generic "Ghoul King" page of my own, and, although I do have a generic page for the spike monsters, it has their real name on it...

For future reference, you can expect that any wildcard enemy will also be a unique individual.

Also, unless it is too much work - could you list the loot as well?

Yep, I was planning to add that tonight after work.

[bladerunner_35]

Excellent Dave. Thanks a bunch!

[bladerunner_35]

I also forgot to unhide the Zombie page, so I did that and replaced your Zombies page with it. I'm leaving the Ghoul King and Spike Monster pages alone, at least for now. The ghoul king you fought last night was a unique individual, so I don't have a generic "Ghoul King" page of my own, and, although I do have a generic page for the spike monsters, it has their real name on it...

I cannot see any difference at all?

[nDervish]

I also forgot to unhide the Zombie page, so I did that and replaced your Zombies page with it. I'm leaving the Ghoul King and Spike Monster pages alone, at least for now. The ghoul king you fought last night was a unique individual, so I don't have a generic "Ghoul King" page of my own, and, although I do have a generic page for the spike monsters, it has their real name on it...

I cannot see any difference at all?

That's because I just copy/pasted your text into the public section of the page. The only difference that should be visible to you is that the page title is "Zombie" (singular) instead of "Zombies" (plural).

[nDervish]

Also, unless it is too much work - could you list the loot as well?

Something else I just thought of:

Considering travel time and all the sneaking around you did last night, I figure you've got about 3 hours to spend on looting before you need to head back to Eastmere unless you want to spend the night in Elderone (and you didn't bring supplies for that). I assume that the first priority will be searching the stables/ghoul nest, then Jonaleth and Dree will go over the mad scientist's house while the others check out the mill and wheat storage. After that, I figure you'll have time to thoroughly search four more buildings.

So, which four other buildings do you want to loot before leaving?

Since Elderone is within the protection of Eastmere's song, regular NPCs will return and finish cleaning out anything that you don't take, then start making repairs and rebuilding the settlement without needing you to be directly involved.

[nDervish]

As a general point of interest, I rolled to see if you ran into anything else on your trip back to Eastmere. You did have an encounter... It was that same horse again, still wandering the Eastmere-Elderone road.

Anyhow, what did you find in your searching? Here's what you came up with in the four buildings that I'm automatically assuming you went through. Figure out for yourselves what you want to take and what you want to leave, then update whichever wiki page(s) apply.

Arman's House (#2)
For starters, you found plenty of documentation making it clear that the inventor living here was named "Arman" and he lived with a young girl named "Calla", but you're not entirely certain whether she was his daughter or his apprentice.

His wooden workbench held a wide variety of mechanical parts, a meter-long bent iron bar, a small iron carving knife, a pouch of pipe tobacco, and his latest project, an "electric leech". Stuffed into a box under the bench, you also found several scrolls. Most were blank, but usable scrolls of Armor (+2 Armor for 10 rounds), Deflection (-2 to be hit for 10 rounds), Flight (fly at basic Pace for 15 rounds), and Speed (doubled Pace for 10 rounds) were also among them.

Aside from that, he had a padded oak chair beside a small table with a chess set on it, a small brass mirror hanging on the wall above a steel basin, and a bookcase containing such volumes as Lizard in the Castle, The Mage and the Bow, The Mystery of Mattrick the Dragon, The Secrets of Sirorx the Barbarian, The Villainous Manual of the Wyvern, and The Events of Cora the Barbarian.

Wheat Storage (#17)
The wheat supplies were almost completely intact. The storage area had several rat traps scattered around the floor, most of which contained the rotting remains of rats. The building also has an upper loft containing additional wheat storage, but the wheat had been cleared from one corner which instead holds an old, worn mattress and a red glass bottle of perfume.

Sleeping Mule Stables / Ghoul Lair (#18)
Being a stable, the floor was, of course, covered with a thick layer of straw, piled into ghoul-sized "nests" in several places. Equally inevitable were the piles of aged guano on most of the flat surfaces.

Aside from the straw, the most prominent features were a rusting, three-meter-tall iron statue of a cat, a warped rosewood desk with blobs of yellow wax on its surface, and some broken birch shelves. Forcing the desk drawers open, you found a small portrait of an unrecognized man, a pair of brown cloth gloves, a deck of tarot cards, an orange silk handkerchief, and a book bound in blue leather with the symbol of a ram on the cover. The book's pages are blank.

Digging through the straw also revealed a corroded iron candle snuffer, a rotting four-meter rope, a broken shortbow with an unwrapped, but well-worn, grip, a bent brass tankard, a leather boot, a blunt spearhead, and several coins.

Mill (#19)
Entering the mill, you immediately noticed that the machinery is damaged beyond your immediate ability to repair it - it definitely can be fixed, but it's a bigger job than you have time for at the moment. Although it doesn't seem likely to be the cause of the problem, there's a broken spear jammed into the gears.

Along with the main mill machinery, the entry room also contains a granite workbench with a wooden stool beside it. A working iron music box sits on the workbench. A word has been written on the wall above the workbench in a script that you aren't able to read. The Bloody Verdict of Verden whispers to Spellbutcher that it's similar to that used by certain languages of demons.

The mill's back room contains stacks of baskets containing flour. You estimate that they would fill about half of your cart if you were to take them all back with you tonight.

Cash
While going through these areas, you found a total of 20gp, 449sp, and 753cp.

(For conversion to "standard" SW pricing, it's $1 = 1sp, not 1gp. Coin values are 1gp = 10sp = 100cp. For encumbrance purposes, 250 coins = 1 significant item.)

(And, yes, I probably do enjoy my random crap generators a little too much. )

[bladerunner_35]

I say that since we were four players each player can decide for himself which house he loots. If everyone is ok with that Enock loots house number 23.

I am almost done with my post-session stuff. One thing struck me when I purchased advancements. I got the Armour power for my Song and this will mean that Enock gets a Thoughness of 9 (11 on a raise) which is starting to feel a little over powered. Perhaps it will be fine since there is only so long that I can power the power before my power runs out but still....

For Enock I chose the Edge Command which isn't all that great but my next advancement with him will be Natural Leader which means that he can share bennies to henchmen within 5" which could come in handy.

I have also created our armoury were there are some weapons and armour that people can borrow if they want. The only thing you need to do in return is to update the page.

If anyone has any info on more loot or on the ghouls, zombies and spiked monster you can add that on their pages.


Edit: Since Dave posted before I was done I'll comment some. Depending on you Dave I am going to assume that we (Spellbutcher) tried to catch the wild horse considering that we have all seen the power of a mounted warrior first hand now.

The wheat and flour we will leave for our dedicated workers to collect. And it is very likely that Jonaleth scoured Arman's house clean though I will leave that for him to say. Those scrolls seems pretty powerful. Can anyone use them and how many of each was there?

I guess that the three meter statue of a cat doesn't contain any Song?

So that means we've got a total of 656 sp and 53 cp? Divided by four (I assume the henchmen don't "want" loot?) that's 164 sp and 13 cp per Deva (throwing one copper to the winds).

[bladerunner_35]

One thing I've been wondering - is it possible to "buy off" hindrances? For example by using one advancement to get rid of a minor and two advancements to get rid of a major?