Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Discussion on playing Earthdawn. Experiences, stories, and questions related to being a player.
Telarus_KSC
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Re: Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Postby Telarus_KSC » Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:43 pm

Awesome report, thanks Tanthalas!

I am curious, but did the old-school D&D scenario of "Run past the Fighter to gank the Mage" come up, and how was that handled?
(Really, this is a combat move question & was handled in old D&D by saying that as soon as you are next to a ready melee combat opponent, you must stop moving.)

Any more feedback from players with primarily D&D experience? 5th Circle character can be fairly complex, how did they player ramp up? Was there a rules-intro discussion? What were common questions from D&D players?

Thanks for the Con Report!

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Tanthalas
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Re: Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Postby Tanthalas » Wed Apr 09, 2014 4:17 pm

In the adventures there is only one real mage that they have to battle and he comes stocked with a retinue so he can't get 'ganked' right away. Players were pretty surprised to learn that there was no attack of opportunities for moving in and out of combat, but they seemed to cope with it pretty well and they liked the idea of 'blindsiding' folk. Due to the fact that the party has an Obsidiman Elementalist they also learned fairly quickly that the mage isn't necessarily the squishiest guy in the party.

5th circle is fairly complex. We did a fifteen minute 'this is your character, this is a cheat sheet of what you can do'. The first fight usually has them figuring out the rules and learning what Karma is. By the end they were spending strain on optional powers and burning through Karma with the best of them.

I think the most 'D&D Centric' aspect of the review is that they really liked that the plot was about as critical as the actual fighting. They liked all the Talents that they had that were specifically for outside combat. And the Troubadour, while frustrated at first that she couldn't actually hurt people as effectively as a Bard, quickly learned to love her Converse and Charming Smile talents.
I'm one of the Legends of Barsaive guys. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Bawdy Jokes? PM me!

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Re: Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Postby Mataxes » Wed Apr 09, 2014 6:10 pm

Quick note, the draft documents that we sent over for the ED4 demo were an earlier draft. The "Jump up" option was not in them, but it is being retained as an option for the final book.
Josh Harrison --
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Telarus_KSC
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Re: Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Postby Telarus_KSC » Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:15 pm

Good to know. I think Jump Up is a good option for those wiling to sacrifice a bit to get back up & take an action in the same round. What was the concern there? (Was it that Knocked Down become a "pointless" status effect if everyone just jumps up? I vaguely remember a thread on that...)

Hey, I've been thinking about the "Attack of Opportunity" question, and it really seems like in 1st Edition this was side-stepped by the Initiative/Declaration phase, where players & GM declare character actions in reverse initiative order. In this flow, the characters with higher Initiatives can choose to intercept the low-Initiative character trying to run past their front line.

Because this is usually the first part of the Initiative sequence dropped by groups to speed up combat, the work-around built into the rules doesn't function. How about a Dex check vs the Physical Defense of anyone in melee range (in an adjacent hex), or they block your path some-how...? I like the idea of "tumbling" past a blocking guard, but haven't really worked out how I want that to show up in the game-mechanics.

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Tanthalas
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Re: Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Postby Tanthalas » Thu Apr 10, 2014 11:09 am

Personally, I like the fluidity of combat and the ability for people to move to other targets in the swirl. I like avoiding the minutia of attacks of opportunity and threatened hexes. But I see your point.

If you want to add tactical combat back in, I would probably have a rule like this:
If the the active player tries to walk past another character, the passed character (or blocker) can spend two strain to make an opposed dexterity check. If the mover wins, they can move as they please around the blocker, otherwise, the movement action immediately stops and the mover is stuck in the last hex they tried to pass through. At your discretion you could change this to be dex or str, mover's choice. That's my idea at least.
I'm one of the Legends of Barsaive guys. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Bawdy Jokes? PM me!

Telarus_KSC
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Re: Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Postby Telarus_KSC » Thu Apr 10, 2014 11:28 am

Nice idea. Yah, the old D&D approach really worked because it was "1-minute rounds" and fairly abstracted anyway, and I do like the fluid nature of ED combat. I'm also using the "Movement Costs Initiative" optional rule, so that would work out well. I'll think on this once we see the new rules, thanks man. :)

Telarus_KSC
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Re: Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Postby Telarus_KSC » Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:38 pm

Ooh, I thought of something else. Did the players just have their PC in the party, or were there "hirelings" that filled out the part? (Kind of a D&D staple for the old-school crowd.) Just wondering if any of them brought it up....

Slimcreeper
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Re: Earthdawn 4th @ Gary Con!

Postby Slimcreeper » Sat Apr 12, 2014 9:26 am

I have decided that melee types around the mage/archer aggressively reserving their action until someone tries to get past them. They use their action, but hit while the target is moving and benefit from blindside bonuses. The target can still try to attack the mage/archer if they want and are able after the guards resolve their attack.

So you have an archer behind an array of 4 sword-and-board fighters. A Sky Raider gets cocky and tries to charge straight through to take out the despicable archer, who strikes from a distance without regard for honor. Unfortunately for him, the first fighter (benefiting from a blindside bonus and possibly an aggressive attack bonus) knocks him to the ground with a well-timed swipe to the legs, dropping him right to the middle of the guard. The other three, benefiting from the blindside bonus as well as the advantages of attacking a prone target, wail on him while the archer calmly nocks another arrow. Should the sky raider still be in a position to do anything, he does still have his action.

As far as the knocked down thing goes . . . if there were a ridiculous number of people rolling around on the ground, there is a problem. I've always thought that standing up out to use a move action and/or a standard action. Although the penalty for being knocked down should still apply.


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