Most Roleplaying games have one Dungeon or Game Master and one or more Players. With solo games like Mythic and Two Hour Wargames, you have players, but the game systems and dice determine the outcomes.
Well Mythic has something new from recent games. I haven't run games in years, mostly because my friends and I all went in separate directions, and also because work and other activities make forming a game group more difficult nowadays. And yet I miss those games. Watching Players maneuver their characters through different adventures, watching them solving puzzles. Eradicating an entire party while the players stare with dropped jaws ----- oh wait, did I say that last part out loud? I would never, in a million years . . . . okay I performed one TPK once, but they knew it going in.
Anyway, Mythic Magazine #41 has a new option, the Player Emulator. Instead of running your party and the dice and charts run the game, you are the Game/Dungeon Master and the game runs the players. I really wanted to give this a try, and for extra fun, I figured I'd post my results as I go.
While I'm using a generic fantasy world, I'll use my Discworld rules for creating characters and monsters, and with the Player Emulator creating Play styles for each player. To keep things simple, I've kept player and character names as close as possible.
A quick recap of my character rules:
Characters have 3 Abilities: Do (anything physical, including combat), Think (anything mental, including magic and thieves skills), and Talk (any interactions). Characters get 2 Ability Points per level, + a bonus for Race (which I run fast and loose with). Level 2 characters on can exchange 1 Ability PT for 3 Skills Points, which allow for specializing.
Level 0 characters and creatures must have Abilities that equal 0.
Finally, Magic Classes can cast spells but must sacrifice 1 Ability PT at the start.
Anyway, here are my first victims, I mean PCs:
Marek: Male Human Mage. Level 2.
Do: 0, Think: +2, Talk: 0
Skills: Magic: +2 Damage, +1 Effect.
Player: Marco
Play Style: Fight (He will have his character attack as much as possible.)
Wallace: Male Human Warrior. Level 2.
Do: +2, Think: +2, Talk: 0.
Skills: Weapon Damage +2, Shield +2.
Player: Wally
Play Style: Shoot First (Similar to Marco).
Rosse: Female Elf Rogue. Level 2.
Do: 0, Think: +2, Talk: +2.
Skills: Wits +3.
Player: Rose
Play Style: Thinker.
I'm using Mythic's One Page Location Crafter, along with the Dungeon Generator, for the dungeon that they're exploring. The board and minis are from Mage Knight. I don't have a lot of monster minis (well none that wouldn't obliterate a party of lvl 2 characters) so I'll use poker chips for threats. Finally, I'm adding a few little traps I thought of or used in past DnD games.
The Dungeon
Grimble, the goblin sorcerer put together the dungeon. Hearing about evil overlords dispatching hapless heroes with underground monstrosities, Grimble decided to try his hand. Unfortunately, he's still new at this so we'll see how successful he is.
The 3 enter the dungeon here. Rolling on the Location Crafter, I get Expected, Return. I decided this is simply the entrance. Nothing out of the ordinary. I'll let them travel a bit before torturing them.
The party encountered their first trap. It's a step-activated panel that sends the victim hurtling to the ceiling, where he strikes another touch-activated panel that sends him back to the original, and so on. Mythic decided that, despite the picture, they can't go around. I decided that trying would trigger hidden panels on the sides as well.
Approaching it carefully, Rosse managed to disarm it. Okay, they got past their first test. Fair enough. What's next?
LC decided the party encountered an object, which I decided was a treasure chest.
Rose passed her Sense roll, meaning she'll got with the more sensible approach.
Rose: "I think I can disarm this, but a chest all by itself seems too suspicious."
Wally: (Passing his Sense roll, which is impressive, since I gave him a penalty for his Play Style) "I could bash it, but I think it might make things worse."
Marco: "Agreed, let's keep going."
Oooh, I've been waiting for this one!
The party approached a pit. A sign next to the edge read, "Only by staring into the darkness within can one hope to cross."
I'll let Rose make the Sense check for the part: (Pass!)
Wallace: "My deepest, darkest secrets? Back when I was 8 and out of underwear -"
Rosse: "Wait, and please for the love of Vulcan, never ever finish that sentence." (Kneels down and stares into the pit.) "It looks shallow."
Rosse makes a Do check to leap into the pit (Easy): Pass!
Wallace makes the check: Pass!
Marek rolls: Fail!
Marek falls and suffers -1 Rank Shift Damage.
Standing, they realized the pit was only waist-deep. Unfortunately, Marek tripped hurt his ankle by landing wrong. Still, they were able to cross without difficulty and move on to the next room.
LC determined the next room had 3 opponents. Rolling on 1 Page Creature Crafter, I got 3 Cave Cats. Now these aren't house kitties simply living underground. The size of cheetahs and just as fast, they used the caves and their construction to their advantage.
I gave them the following stats:
Cave Cat: Level 0. Do:0, Think: +1, Talk: -1.
I had the cats perform a sneak attack and they passed. I decided this gave them a +1 on the first round of combat.
The d6 helped me keep track of injuries in RS.
Fortunately, the heroes managed to avoid the cats enough to win the fight, though Marek suffered injury and is now at -2 RS and Rosse suffered -1 RS. With the battle over, the group tends to their injuries. Rosse recovered but Marek still had to deal with -1 RS.
The next room was empty except for a single object. I thought a door to the next room would work, but with a catch. The door had 3 differently-shaped locks and 3 keys scattered in the room. The puzzle was to find the keys and open the door.
Together, they located all 3 keys and Rosse figured out which keys to place in which locks. Which is good because failing would cause spikes to shoot out of the walls.
Passing that challenge, they moved on.
Entering the next room, the party encountered a pool of water blocking their path. The water sparkled and something appeared to be at the bottom.
Marek: (Lowered to one knee to look)
Rose: Sense check: Passed! "Wait! The pool is a trap." (looks up) "There!"
Just then, several stalactites dropped from the ceiling.
These are called Clingers and use the pool to lure victims to drop their guard before falling and piercing them.
Clingers: Level 0. Do: 0, Think: +1, Talk: -1.
Since the party saw them coming, they lost their +1 first-round advantage. Combat then went on normally.
Unfortunately, things didn't go so well for our heroes. Marek missed with a magic bolt spell and got stabbed (Exceptional Failure). Wallace took out most of the Clingers while Rosse mopped up the rest. Marek survived, but was still wounded so the group chose to backtrack and leave the dungeon for another day.
Wallace gained 3 Adventure Points.
Rosse gained 4 AP.
Marek gained 1 AP but lost it due to getting Incapacitated.
Overall, it was a fun little trial. They figured every challenge I threw at them which is fine because I still have a few more ticks up my sleeve (like the wall of water and glass wall on the other side of a pit).
But those are for next time.
