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Theodrim
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Joined: 18 May 2014
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 Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 1:45 pm Post subject: When party separation and wild die 1's go horribly...right? |
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This happened just last night, and was so bizarre I had to share it.
Setup: the party was meeting a contact on Ord Mantell to exchange intel. Due to having some massive bounties on their heads, they've had a bounty hunter (who was a gungan) and his gang on their tail for a long, long time. Behind the scenes I'd actually gone to exacting detail on where this guy was and what he was doing, hunting the party but always one or two steps behind due to the party's paranoia, and I finally decided to pull the trigger as he just happened to be on Ord Mantell restocking supplies.
The bounty hunter got the tip-off, and dumb lucked his way into figuring out where the party was going to go (secluded location in an abandoned district, perfect for Rebel-y activities). But he didn't quite get there in time to fully set up his ambush. They also knew the party by reputation and that there were Jedi in their midst, so they went armed for bear: Force pikes, flamethrowers, sonic rifles, grenades, thermal detonators, and one mini-proton torpedo launcher.
So, when the party got to the meeting location, they did something I didn't quite expect: they split up, deciding to monitor approaches and set up tactically-advantageous positions in the event it was an ambush. Which meant the party, individually, went exactly where the hunters were also going to at the same time.
The Zabrak Jedi, Twi'lek face, and Sullustan techie went into the building for the meeting, where they met five of them including the leader. Terse talking, thermal detonators with dead-man switches got pulled.
The bothan leader, who is a sniper, went to the tallest building which is where the BH with the launcher went. They successfully sneaked past each other, and had no idea the other was there despite being about ten meters from each other.
The dug hacker sneaked into one alley, and literally ran headfirst into one of the (weequay) hunters. They both loafed their wild dice.
The Mandalorian in the group sneaked into a second alley, and caught the other weequay hunter "hiding" in a dumpster. By hiding, I mean he was in the middle of an impromptu dumpster diving session. The weequay also heard Captain Stompy on his way into the alley.
The other Jedi -- a human -- sneaked into the third alley nearby. The two hunters here successfully sneaked and was ready to jump him, but he got A Bad Feeling About This and managed to dodge the sneak attacks. He lit his lightsaber, which prompted the two hunters to pull their thermals and try to intimidate him into shutting off his lightsaber.
"It" started going down when the dug shot his hunter with a disruptor, which the weequay dodged. The weequay smacked the dug with his force pike, which the dug soaked (amazingly). The dug shot again, and the weequay dodged.
The Mandalorian threw a stun grenade in the dumpster, and the weequay threw a frag grenade out. The Mando PC loafed his dodge roll to avoid his grenade, and it landed between his legs. The Mando soaked grenade to the fun bits, the weequay didn't.
Hearing the sound of blaster fire and two grenade detonations in another alley, the two BH's surrounding the (human) Jedi threw their thermals at him. The Jedi dodged, using the Force to leap up to the roof of the building he was nearest, and the two BH's loafed their wild dice and accidentally threw their thermals at each other. Which brought part of the building down, but the Jedi escaped unscathed due to how high he rolled to dodge.
Inside the building, the standoff was brought to an abrupt end by their contact showing up. He loafed his wild die roll, failed to notice the thermals, and naturally shot the gungan in the back of the head triggering the dead-man switch. The party and the contact managed to run outside with the aid of Force points, escaping five thermal detonations and bringing most of that building down.
When the party ran outside, Torpedo Sniper let his doomstick off the leash, prompting another round of Force point dodges. The Bothan finally noticed him then, because proton torpedo launcher. He charged the BH and shot him in the face, but loafed the wild die on the blaster roll. The BH loafed his dodge roll, so I ruled he had a muscular spasm upon death which let another torpedo off the chain.
Which thanks to the wonders of random determination, went straight into the building the (human) Jedi was on. He managed to dodge...again...and the rest of the building was brought down.
The Dug and the weequay mutually agreed discretion was the better part of valor (literally, this got role-played out), backed away from each other slowly and ran, agreeing never to speak of this again.
So, after two grenades going off, seven thermal detonations, two proton torpedoes being shot at the party, two buildings reduced to smoldering wreckage, and a dug being a dug, they finally met up with their contact and got the intel exchanged before beating a very hasty retreat off-world. And by hasty, I mean they went shopping.
This is my Star Wars game everyone, Archer meets Saints Row. |
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Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
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Joined: 07 Apr 2017
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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A gungan bounty hunter? That's hilarious!
Mee-sa big bounty hunter. You-sa in deep doo-doo!
Sounds like you guys had a blast!
Thumbs up for sharing!  |
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Sutehp
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Location: Washington, DC (AKA Inside the Beltway)
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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I agree, a Gungan bpunty hunter is something I never would have thought of, but the idea is hilarious and scary at the same time. And when I mean scary, just think of how far a Gungan would have to descend into the depths of depravity just to be able to do the job of bounty hunting.
Man, I would have loved to have been playing in a session like that. The SWD6 campaign I was briefly in (and ended) recently wasn't nearly so interesting.
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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I do so love outrageous stories of die roll hysterics..
Though dodging out of the blast radi of a thermal detonator?? HOW?
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Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | Though dodging out of the blast radi of a thermal detonator?? HOW? |
With First Edition, it's done by rolling Dodge and adding it to the grenade's (not the throwing foe) target number to hit in a blast radius. |
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Theodrim
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Joined: 18 May 2014
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, folks. Glad you enjoyed it.
| garhkal wrote: | I do so love outrageous stories of die roll hysterics..
Though dodging out of the blast radi of a thermal detonator?? HOW? |
I was using a bit of shorthand for narrative sake. The long of it is...
Thermals' blast radius is surprisingly small, 20m, and past 12m the damage is completely trivial (2D). Easy enough to move away from, so I gave the characters inside the building a Running check as a reaction at...very difficult? if I remember right. They all blew Force points and aced the rolls, so I ruled they got out of the building and out of the blast radii.
The Jedi I gave a reaction Jumping/Climbing roll, as the only way to avoid the explosions was by going up. After a Force point and liberal application of Force powers, he ended up with a 50-something on his check, but as I specified the building was 15m tall earlier he had to soak a whopping 2D of damage which he easily did.
This is an extremely advanced game (all the PC's are 200+ character points spent to advance attributes and abilities and have 2+ earned FP) at the conclusion of its run, so Heroic+ results aren't uncommon even before factoring in CP expenditure for extra dice, or Force point usage. One PC has actually managed to fully soak not one, but two, thermals that literally went off at point-blank range during the same fight.
He got into a fight with an Inquisitor when he jet packed into a Lambda-class shuttle in mid-flight, which was flying CAS for the Phase 0 Dark Troopers the rest of the party was fighting (ramp was still down for reasons not particularly relevant). He realized an Inquisitor was in there, the Inquisitor lit up so the PC threw a thermal; the Inquisitor TK'ed it right back at him. The thermal went off, the PC soaked it completely thanks to a Force point and Mandalorian armor, the Inquisitor absorb/dissipated it with a Force point of his own...but the Lambda-class didn't, and exploded in mid-air which both parties also soaked.
So now, they're in free-fall amidst a cloud of smoking, flaming debris...and they keep fighting. The Inquisitor using TK for lightsaber and debris throws, the PC with disruptors and micro-missiles. This continues for a round or two, and at the end of it the Inquisitor TK's to break his fall and the PC jetpacks to break his. The Inquisitor finally gets to put his lightsaber to real use on the ground and charges the PC, taking his hand and Incapacitating him.
The Inquisitor was mad enough at this point to have abandoned good sense, and really wanted to take his time making the PC's death as agonizing as possible. Hence taking his hand, as opposed to any given instantly-lethal strike.
You'd think this would be the end of the fight and the PC...but nope. The PC has one of those neato auto-use medpacs built into his armor, which goes off and stabilizes/revives him as per typical incap rules. The PC is having none of this "being beaten by an Inquisitor" nonsense, and decides to take matters into his own hand by pulling his second thermal, dead-man switching it, and dropping it (I ruled he could at least do that while incapped, since he wasn't really doing anything that would require a skill check)...and spends his last Force point to soak, and he did. The Inquisitor, not so much.
The bookend to that, was the player of that PC almost seemed disappointed his character didn't die in a blaze of thermonuclear glory taking a dark Jedi out with him after a fight of biblical proportion. Almost. |
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Sutehp
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Joined: 01 Nov 2016
Posts: 1797
Location: Washington, DC (AKA Inside the Beltway)
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| Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 12:24 am Post subject: |
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Holy damn, but that was one tough PC.
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Sutehp's RPG Goodies
Only some of it is for D6 Star Wars.
Just repurchased the X-Wing and Tie Fighter flight sim games. I forgot how much I missed them. |
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 3:30 am Post subject: |
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| Theodrim wrote: | Thanks, folks. Glad you enjoyed it.
| garhkal wrote: | I do so love outrageous stories of die roll hysterics..
Though dodging out of the blast radi of a thermal detonator?? HOW? |
I was using a bit of shorthand for narrative sake. The long of it is...
Thermals' blast radius is surprisingly small, 20m, and past 12m the damage is completely trivial (2D). Easy enough to move away from, so I gave the characters inside the building a Running check as a reaction at...very difficult? if I remember right. They all blew Force points and aced the rolls, so I ruled they got out of the building and out of the blast radii.
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Dodging is at most a full move action (so 10m normal).. And i've never seen running used as a reaction check. But that said, all popping FPs to do so... heroic.. Thumbs up!
| Theodrim wrote: |
One PC has actually managed to fully soak not one, but two, thermals that literally went off at point-blank range during the same fight.
He got into a fight with an Inquisitor when he jet packed into a Lambda-class shuttle in mid-flight, which was flying CAS for the Phase 0 Dark Troopers the rest of the party was fighting (ramp was still down for reasons not particularly relevant). He realized an Inquisitor was in there, the Inquisitor lit up so the PC threw a thermal; the Inquisitor TK'ed it right back at him. The thermal went off, the PC soaked it completely thanks to a Force point and Mandalorian armor, the Inquisitor absorb/dissipated it with a Force point of his own...but the Lambda-class didn't, and exploded in mid-air which both parties also soaked. |
HU?? Soaking a TD at point blank>?
| Theodrim wrote: | | (I ruled he could at least do that while incapped, since he wasn't really doing anything that would require a skill check)...and spends his last Force point to soak, and he did. The Inquisitor, not so much. |
IF he's incap, he can't do an action though, so even pulling out the td to activate it (which would sitll require q demo check iirc) should have been beyond him.
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Theodrim
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| Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 11:38 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | Dodging is at most a full move action (so 10m normal).. And i've never seen running used as a reaction check. But that said, all popping FPs to do so... heroic.. Thumbs up!
HU?? Soaking a TD at point blank>?
IF he's incap, he can't do an action though, so even pulling out the td to activate it (which would sitll require q demo check iirc) should have been beyond him. |
Admittedly, my group has a way stronger dramatic effect/storytelling/"rule of cool" tradition, so I'm more permissive with what actions can be used, when, and under what conditions, as long as it makes sense, contributes to the story, has the least mechanical footprint on the game possible, and my players are role-playing well. We play mostly cWoD nowadays, and I have more than one player who despises crunch-heavy games like those from the d20 line, so it works for us and d6 is a fantastic platform for going that route anyway. Some of us have been gaming together for 15 years, so I already know what the table preferences are and tend to build house rules in from the onset that are most comfortable and fun to them.
For example, I've forgone making my characters perform multiple actions to run and dodge while running under fire, and treated it as a single run action at a DC equal to terrain modifier + attack roll. Nowadays my players don't favor that option since their Dodge checks are 3D-4D higher than their Running check, and will specify they're moving at normal rate and just dodging.
As far as the PC soaking the thermals, he was on fire with the dice that evening. Pretty much why he went toe-to-toe with an Inquisitor for as long as he did. As far as the second thermal, strictly speaking it'd be a Grenade check (Demo's used for planting explosives to damage or destroy structures or vehicles, or to achieve given ad hoc effects) and I wouldn't have allowed it if he was trying to throw the thermal or something. But, since all he was doing was reaching into his pouch and pushing a button, he was likely to die either way and it was a matter of taking out the Inquisitor who would have gone medieval on the party's @$$, and as a reward for excellent role-playing that fight, I allowed it. |
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garhkal
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| Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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Fare enough.. And as for that run+ dodge, that's an interesting rule i might have to adapt..
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Theodrim
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| Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 12:55 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | Fare enough.. And as for that run+ dodge, that's an interesting rule i might have to adapt.. |
Word of forewarning, results can and will be mixed. Especially when you start factoring in MFTAS and coordinated-fire rules on the part of Imp enemies. It's been my experience players tend to not dump CP's into Run unless they're playing a fringe character concept or melee specialist, so you start getting into the realm of basic Dex checks versus attack dice pools of 6D-7D...and if you're using overage rules from the SpecForce handbook (I don't) it's pretty much a recipe for disaster.
The chief way I circumvent the issue is "exploiting" coordinated-fire rules. That gives me two different ways to resolve it as a built-in difficulty/game balance "dial": dividing the number of attackers by the number of defenders and using the result as the coordinated-fire modifier, or the sum of attackers taking actions equal to the number of defenders, and resolving it as a single roll against which all players have to roll once. That keeps attacker dice codes manageable and faster-resolved, and keeps PC dice codes on rough parity if not slightly higher, especially since they're not eating MAP's out the wazoo.
In any case, concealment and fast-moving target penalties will be your PC's friends, and dampener gas and smoke grenades will become a lot more desirable if you move your players over to this rule.
It's not a house rule I'd use lightly for starting-level or moderately-advanced characters, due to how high DC's can push using it. Once my group's characters hit around a hundred CP and got to the point running and dodging as a multiple action wasn't something to sweat, I slipped it in there purely as a matter of keeping the pacing and flow of combat smooth. |
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