Topic: Ran my first session

[Deeman]

Everything seem to go well.  There was plenty to like and somethings we decided to throw out.  Nobody including me liked the initiative modifiers very much so they are gone.  We were using the martial law critical tables but the adding and subtracting of damage considering the various armors was kinda clumsy.  As a result I'm making excel copies of all the critical tables in martial law with the unarmored modifiers added in and all the armor wearers get to subtract damage accordingly.  I can't think of any problem this might cause, but I'm open to any suggested pitfalls. 

The varied damage in martial law due to armor also got me to thinking how this will affect monsters.  Are the non armor wearing monsters considered to not be wearing armor?  Does tough hide or some other characteristic act as armor?  Very eager to find this out as the players are faced off against a lesser troll at the beginning of next session.


Something else that came up in a combat was the lack of a held or hold action...action.  Am I missing something, do you guys houserule it, or does it just not exist?

Everybody had a good time.  No one got an open ended critical, but the monk (after coming out of 6 rounds of stun) fumbles his attack and rolls top of the fumble chart.  People were holding their sides including the good natured monk.

[jurasketu]

Excellent.

In my SPAR rules in the The Guild Companion - March 2008, I used the concept of a "yield" action - but that's in the context of initiative attack/parry.

I do allow players to specify "opportunity actions". That is, when X happens, then their specified action occurs (missile attack, spell, etc) at the end of the round. If X doesn't happen, the opportunity action carries over until the next round until X happens or the character cancels the action. Since spells can be 'cranked' up over several rounds, holding a spell ready seems perfectly natural. But because of the way the HARP initiative system is intended and the fact that rounds are only two seconds - I insist the players actually specify conditions to 'hold' their action - otherwise they do the action at their initiative moment.

Robin

PS I like your choice of avatar...

[jasonbrisbane]

Hi Deeman,

Thats what we have been used for the last several months!
Monster Toiugh Hide =  Natural Armor
Compare the DB bonus from the armor itself and make that the equivalent armour modifier.

[Mormegil]

Everything seem to go well.  There was plenty to like and somethings we decided to throw out.  Nobody including me liked the initiative modifiers very much so they are gone.

One thing we've noticed is that the monsters often seem to have very high initiative compared to players. Is this normal or are we cocking something up?

[Right Wing Wacko]

One thing we've noticed is that the monsters often seem to have very high initiative compared to players. Is this normal or are we roostering something up?

This has been discussed before. As it turns out, the monsters do indeed have better initiative than the PC's. IIRC, that's just the way things are and you are not messing anything up. Maybe if you do a search of the forums you could find the original thread...

[Right Wing Wacko]

Just remembered something...
I think the high initiative of monsters is somewhat due to all monsters being created with 75 in all stats...
I know there was a discussion about it, but you will have to go back and look for it for the real dope...

[Matthias]

I still try to use initiative modifiers when it makes sense, but the only one I use on a consistent basis is a -10 for being under 50% Endurance Points (we use a 2d10 + Qux2 range).

[Right Wing Wacko]

I still try to use initiative modifiers when it makes sense, but the only one I use on a consistent basis is a -10 for being under 50% Endurance Points (we use a 2d10 + Qux2 range).

Yeah... I have been thinking about omitting the negative to initiative due to shield use myself... but I haven't fully decided if it would screw anything up..
But other than that, I try to use any modifiers that apply.
Having said that, there are a few I wouldn't mind getting rid of...

[Matthias]

I find that so many of my PCs and creatures use shields, it would simply be easier to grant an initiative bonus to those without shields if doing mods on the fly.

[Pat]

We were using the martial law critical tables but the adding and subtracting of damage considering the various armors was kinda clumsy.  As a result I'm making excel copies of all the critical tables in martial law with the unarmored modifiers added in and all the armor wearers get to subtract damage accordingly. 

We did something similar in our game. We created our own modified excel spreadsheets with the Martial Law adjustments so that we would not need to calculate the damage. For example:

81-85 Slash (Description has been removed to comply with copy right laws)
            Hits Stun Bleed Modifier
(N)         16   2     2     -30
(S)         14   1     2     -25
(R)         11   1     1     -20
(C)         8            1      -15
(P)         6                   -10

(N) No Armour (S) Soft Leather etc...
(We don't include Plate/Chain. What we do is have Plate for torso and back {4-7 on hit location} and chain everywhere else.)
Also, we reduced the bonuses/penalties of armour so that there is only a 10 point difference between Plate and Unarmoured instead of 20 and modified stun/bleed as well.

Basically we took what we thought was a good idea and remodelled it to what we prefered to use in our HARP games.

And our monsters are considered Unarmoured unless they have Tough Hide, in which case, their armour adjustment is the same as their bonus. (+20 Soft Leather, +40 Chain, +60 Plate.)

[Pat]

Something else that came up in a combat was the lack of a held or hold action...action.  Am I missing something, do you guys houserule it, or does it just not exist?

We use a Readied action system where the player can make a declaration such as "If the bear charges me I will attack it." If the bear does attack the player, the player goes before the bear as a readied attack. The only down side is if the bear attacks a different party member then the player with the readied action loses an action for that round awaiting an attack that never came.

[Deeman]

Thanks for the responses guys.  I'll use tough hide for armor and allow a ready action with specific parameters.  Now back to altering the martial law crit tables.