Gencon After action report.

[garhkal]

Well, as has been my tradition, here is my report..

First off, we have my gming responsibilities. I was scheduled for 8 slots, all my modules (3 running of sparks 79, 2 of 78, 1 each of 71, 72 and 63), as well as both half’s of the interactive.

First slot, 78. Had 5 players. Average sheet of 6. First combat, was a space battle (by scripting was an ambush), scared shi**ess, they were freaking out, and commended me twice on my keeping the tension, even as they were crashing (no power). Only 2 injuries, both from people not strapped in. Wounded one and the other incap. Second battle, against 8 army troopers (not stormies), 4 scouts, 2 officers and 4 techs. Went well, though dropped 2 pcs from stun fire. Pcs otherwise prevailed.
Snuck into base, but found it ‘mysteriously’ deserted, only 2 of the pcs cottoned on to my hints of it being a possible trap. Split up into 2 groups, one pair and one trio (the pair were aliens and so would not be able to impersonate imps).
Pair stuck it out by the elevators, awaiting something, while the trio went on look about. Decided to separate, 2 going with a bunch of stormies, and the other staying down in the medical lab… (he got caught later).
The other 2, got out into the hanger where they saw the bulk of the bases troops massing, heading outside, to stop any escape. They joined in, but later were surprised when the other pair (from the elevator) decided to head into the hanger, were seen by the troops and got shot. The outside (hidden) pair, dropped fps each to run back inside, slamming the door shut (then shooting the control panel).
They then made it down to the main lab (all the other elevators were shut off, to face the base commander (a dark Jedi who was apprenticing with Vader) and his bodyguards (table tiering was for 4 Imp royal guards on storm trooper rotation). The OIC stayed back, using the force to try and influence the pcs, while they fired at the oncoming RG. One decided to go for the downed friend, and made it, avoiding my 3 to hit rolls from the DJ (darn 1’s), though 2 of the other pcs lost arms to the force pikes of the RG. They eventually make it out, (time was running out, so I “threw them a bone”…
Many commendations for keeping the pressure on… had many a chance to kill, but went with taking arms instead. (had almost as much fun doing that than with killing!!!)


Next table, was 63. 4 pcs, with a sheet average of 5. Party did well, at first, even skipping the initial ground tussle with a pair of Storm trooper squads, (who were calling in an air strike)… Loved the tension I put in, with the bodies. Unlike most tables I have ran of this, they actually decided to scour the info they got from the base…Learning of the bad guys that would show up. They were paranoid, and loved how I kept it up. Leading to the BGs to show up, capture them, and then came the challenge (the bgs were the Zurrog, that predator like race of mine). 3 challenges made, were lost, while 1 was Won… though they needed 2. No limbs lost or anything bad.
No bad comments, other than it could have done with a little more foreshadowing of the Zurrog ways.


Next table, was 71. 5 pcs, average sheet of 6 (well rounding would have made it 7 but I flipped a coin to see which I would round too. Pcs did well through the initial space battle (figuring out that the imps were only trying to make them crash and avoiding it, somewhat).. Got to the rebels base, and was given the mission. 2 were reluctant to do it, but got overruled from great Rping by the others. They headed out, and managed to avoid the scout patrol (which had they encountered might have made a big change with how they found the imp base).. Got to the base, and spent a while figuring out their strategy. 4 went in, the other stayed out, to cover…
Sneak rolls went well, but with the first guy getting a massive botch (lots of 1s inc the wild die) I called it a complication, where one of the watch tower guards saw it, called it in, and was ordered to act ‘normal’. At this time, no one managed to figure it out (even with me giving an evil grin a few times). Sprung the trap, and captured all of the 4 that went in…. the last one fled, but came back later, trying to ‘challenge the imps. Being where they were (the planet’s occupants are well up on challenges, honor, courage and daring, he felt it would at least go over some what. Got accepted, and had a single trooper go after him (storm commando). Got caught easy, and because of How easy it was, I let him go, with the ‘you are not worthy of me sullying my blade’ comment…. Rest released (as per the module) with a 10,000 bounty, and pics of them taken…Other than one getting his arm mauled (called shot to the shoulder, to slice the tendon allowing use of it), no serious injuries… A pair of great jobs, but also a pair of ‘grumbles’… no actual comments as to what was bad though from those grumblers…


Next table, was 72.. 5 pcs again, sheet average dead on 5. Space combat first (mid way, with pirates), they blew it away (darn droids with 13d in piloting!!!!). No ground combat, though the pc who was in the ‘will running’ did well to keep in the running with the others, though from a few flubs lost out on a second placing. Otherwise no real worries (not supposed to be). Even with one pc figuring out the ‘winner’ cheated to get the prize (used the force) nothing was said or acted on…. (out of game and afterwards, he asked was that supposed to be that way, and I said no, but it has been that way all the running I have had, due to the dice going that way)..

Next was the second running of 79 (first did not go off, due to only 1 player showing up_. Full 7 players, with a 9 sheet average. Got through the initial space combat (was a ‘test) which 2 of the pcs figured out by the 4th round…. Decided to skip the rest by communicating to the imps they are more than willing to come on the ISD. Got over there, and met with the Moff (one of my 2 major NPC’s I have re occurring). Jumped at the mission.
Kind of stumbled over the investigations, doing great Rping, but just not thinking logically or skipping obvious hints. By the time they got it, and got to the bad guy, they had 25 or so minutes left of the slot. So rather than play him as I wrote out, I made it a little easy on them, though still took down 4, had 2 of those getting ‘stapled’ and a third lost an arm. 2 others challenged him directly (in his face) and took him down with ease (one was on a FP, and would have had 26D worth of a to hit pool Even with the BG on a fp, his defense was only 17d)…


Next table, was the last running of 79. Almost similar to the first, with numbers but their average sheet was a 7. Space combat went almost the same, though they did not figure out the ‘testing’ part of it…. Though they did ‘twig’ once they read the message they got from Rebel HQ (was taking them 5 rounds to decrypt)… Like the first table, they did well on Rping out the investigations but took even longer. Got to the bad guy, and had almost the same situation as before, 3 down, 2 stapled, 2 charging him. Then one finally got off a lucky shot, and did massive damage (4 re rolls on the wild die). I had a flub for the baddie, so he died. They fled due to his final trap (self destruct). Other than one gripe (as one person wanted to grab the baddies magna caster, but forgot to do so at the time), had nothing but good comments.

Last table was the second running of 78. Full 6 pc table, with a 6 sheet average….
Did well through the first 2 rounds of the space ambush, but got overwhelmed by 3 lucky shots (had it all rolled out ahead of time). Got the ships main power knocked out for 9 rounds. Hit the atmosphere, and after fixing it, decided to stay un-powered until they hit 4 rounds before the ground. Got it back up, but was instantly knocked out (due to the imps following them down. After that, the imps left (figuring they would rightly crash).
3 pcs took the other 3 out (1 had a jet pack, the other 2 were in power suits).
Got to the first ground combat, and avoid it by just watching (which is one of the 2 options). Gathered their Intel, and decided they still needed more. 1 of the power suit wearers decided to use it to descend into the crevice where the base was, they were to infiltrate. Due to the aforementioned power suit use, and one of the others falling (4d damage fall), the base was alerted, but they saw no obvious sign. Also due to their dallying they let the base stage some traps (a pair of ceiling mounted stun mines, I gave the mines a flat 7d/5d/3d stun damage rating, in 0-3/6/10 meters, with a hide roll of only 16). NO ONE saw the mines, and when they got there, 5 of 6 dropped. The sixth, was taken out by the squad of stormies in wait, who DID give him a warning to halt. He did not head… All pcs captured. I took a 20 min break to figure out what ‘evilness’ I could come up with for them, and decided that since the base was working on making a healing serum based on the Ghorhal (that bear like race of mine) healing tongue, they would do ‘medical experiments’ on them. Of the 6 pcs, 3 were humans, and 3 were aliens… DNA, finger prints and photos taken of all 6. but due to my poor rolling, only 2 got affected, 1 getting Bacta tolerance (it will not work on him), which he will have to live with until the next interactive to get it ‘gene therapied’ out of his system, the other got a form of vertigo. As long as he in on solid ground or in space he is ok ,but in atmosphere is where it kicks in…. still need to come up with what I will do with that.


All in all, a NUMBER of chances to kill, heck one was almost a gift wrapped TPK.. but I decided the ‘messing with route’ would be a little more tolerable. This was because of my killing 13 pcs before (out of 60 or so runnings of modules up till now) it had garnered me a ‘bad reputation’…. Hope this gets rid of it…Q!
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[garhkal]

Slight side question.

Being that that last 'possible tpk', was when they were infiltrating a 'secret imperial base', did i do right in NOT killing them???

Most of my not doing that, was cause i am already on 'repremand' for the deaths i have had (supposedly i have had some complaints about it), and a little was at the time, i felt that the medicalling of them would be fun. BUT after looking back at it, i am starting to regret that, as imo the base commander would not do something like that....(or should not).
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Boomer]

My problem with these timed adventure modules is that eveyone is in a bit of a rush.
It is a lot more fun to a spend a few hours a week for 6 months playing a game, rather than a few hours and have to do everything in one game.

That is why many people hate getting killed and TPKed in those games. Realistic or not, there is absolutely no room to do anything much.

Which is why I try and avoid those kinds of games.
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My backpack has jets!
I'm Boba the Fett!
And I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt,
to finance my 'vette!

[garhkal]

Good point. But how else could i have handled it, while staying within the realms of 'what would be realistic' for that type of base??
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Boomer]

I'll admit it, I don't know, I have chosen to avoid this problem entirely. I play a much longer game, alowing for that realistic chance of death to only occur at a realistic time once every few sessions.
Or when the players do something incredibly stupid, whatever happens first.
Hey, if you have AIM and Free time on Mondays, 10pm EST, I can personally demonstrate my GMing style.
_________________
My backpack has jets!
I'm Boba the Fett!
And I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt,
to finance my 'vette!