Tag: Guy Sodin

This weekend saw our first death in our Underwatch campaign.  The group made it to the lair of the Lantern Goblin horde that has taken up residence in the city’s ancient sewer network.  What they faced was a small horde worshiping a giant glowing crystal suspended in the air (The Source of the Goblin’s Light!?!).  Lasbador the Wizard quickly launched a fireball into the crowd and maximized the damage.  

That is a whole lot of Goblin death.  Funny thing about Latern Goblins is that when they die their “light” travels to another one of their horde to make them stronger.  

This resulted in a huge amount of Lights flowing around the room and empowering the remaining dozen goblins.  One of these goblins was special.

He stood head and shoulders above the rest and had a powerful build.  In his filthy hands was a huge double bladed axe ablaze with green flames.  He let loose a terrible war cry and charged the party with his retinue of vile companions.

Our Fighter, Aubrey, charged right back.  She was determined to smash into the enemy line and give the other heroes time to destroy the crystal.  Dash the bard was right next to her side but that is beside the point.  The story today is all about Aubrey.

The two sides met in the middle of the chamber.  Aubrey and Dash being surround by the Goblins while our Druid and Wizard were going around to break/dismantle/disenchant the big glowy crystal in the center of the room.

Aubrey charged through the crowd to meet the Goblin Warlord (this title sounds appropriately bad ass doesn’t it?) in combat.  She described how she would slide along the ground (not hard since she is a Halfling) and swing for the legs with Sally, her Messy, Forceful, Piercing Signature Weapon.

I can hear the epic film score chugging along in my head.  I’m ready for the slow-motion sequence of Aubrey cutting the legs right off the Goblin Warlord.  I’m ready for it! ROLL Hack & Slash!

::shooka shooka go the dice:: Aubrey gets a 6.  A Miss.

That big Axe with the green flames?  The one the Goblin Warlord has? It has Messy too.  The Goblin leaps in the air right over Aubrey’s leg sweep.  He comes crashing down and the axe chops right through Aubrey’s arm, taking it off at the elbow.  Aubrey is on the ground and wracked with pain. The Goblin screams triumphantly and raises his axe to finish her off.

Dash tries desperately to reach Aubrey and parry the blow.  Sounded like a Defend to me.  He rolls a 5.  Miss.  The other goblins swarm him and hold him back.

At this point I thought to myself, “Is that it?  Is Aubrey dead?  Did that arm come off and now the Goblin finishes the job?  Or did the shock of the wound really have time to set in yet?  Is there time for the bravest Halfling that every graced the City Watch to get in one last swing?  She is THE Fighter.  She’s got time for one last swing of her axe.  Aubrey is THE Fighter.  I’m a fan of the characters after all.  Fighter’s go down swinging.

I look to Aubrey’s player and describe the Goblin’s axe coming down on her.  “What do you do?” I ask.  She described how she is going to drag her axe along the groung and bring it up in a brilliant upward arc toward the Goblins face. Awesome.  Roll Hack & Slash.

She rolls.  She gets a 9.  They are both taking Damage.  What results is a simultaneous double-kill right out of a movie.  Both of the weapons strike true and do enough damage to end the life of the other in the most gruesome manner possible.  The Goblin’s axe bites into Aubrey at the waist. Aubrey’s blow cuts straight through the Warlords arm and buries itself in the foul creature’s face.

During this chaos, the big crystal is pushed over and takes a tumble down the pit (why do the bad guys always place their McGuffins in such precarious places?).  Druid’s in Bear form make short work of pushing stuff over.

Aubrey rolls Last Breath.  She gets an 8.  Death offers her a deal.  She stands before the Black Gates and talks to Death.  Death tells her that she still has much to do in the world.  He can send her back.  She just has to murder Lasbador (the party’s Wizard) without hesitation when Death calls her to do so.

Without hesitation, Aubrey tells Death “NO.”

This is how THE Fighter dies.  With Glory and with Honor.

Rest in Peace Aubrey.  The Underwatch will miss you.

Originally posted on Bored & Sorcery

http://www.boredandsorcery.com/?p=607

http://www.boredandsorcery.com/editorials/the-fighters-dying-breath-2/

Armor is Armor is Armor right?  Meaning armor granted from a Wizard’s Arcane Ward move can still be surpassed by Piercing and Ignore Armor moves.  Regardless of the source (suit of armor, magic spell) do you guys treat Armor all the same?

How do you guys handle a miss on Spout Lore?  I’ve been using it as an opportunity to “Reveal an unwelcome truth” and sometimes use the opportunity to make the adventure more dangerous as a result.  Basically tell the party some detail that makes the subject matter at hand more dangerous.  The inverse of a 10+ kinda sorta.

Example:  My group was planning on raiding the tomb of the long dead Khan.  My Druid decided to spout some lore about “secrets of the tomb.”  He rolled a 4.  I decided to tell him that he has heard tales around the fire telling of the Khan and his power.  That it is said the Khan was stronger, faster and more powerful than any man in his time.  It was said that he had power even over Death.

The failure on the roll made my idea of the adventure/tomb go from a spooky crypt where a dead warlord was buried, to a Prison where his Undead from still resides.

Is this off base?  Or do people do similar stuff with Spout Lore?

Started up a more Urban game of Dungeon World.  I’m going to keep a log of it on my Blog.  The first post is mostly info on our experience with starting the game (our first time with *World) and creating the setting.  More to come.

http://www.boredandsorcery.com/?p=467

http://www.boredandsorcery.com/?p=467

A Multiclass question.  Page 29 says “For the purpose of multiclassing, any starting class moves that depend on each other count as one move—the wizard’s cast a spell, spellbook, and prepare spells for example.”

This makes sense for cleric and wizard “spell moves.”  I was curious if you thought that Trap Expert & Tricks of the Trade could be thought of as depending on one another?  

I have a player in my upcoming game that is thinking of doing a Bard and grabbing these moves as his first couple advances.  I am curious if I should “bundle” them or not.  Anyone make any calls regarding this in their games?