First Adventure on the Citadel - Mythic and Mass Effect

 Now that we have our characters, let's set them off on their first adventure.

First, why are they on the Citadel (Detail Check): Negative, Failure

What area of the Citadel are they on (Description): Feeble, Clean

Are they under Arrest?  (unlikely)  No.

Are they in a bar:  (likely)  Yes.

Do they know each other already?  (50%)  No

Rammer sat at the bar and downed his drink. It was a slow day as far as work was concerned. CSec wasn't hiring, at least not hiring him, and rent-a-cops paid peanuts. Nearby, a Quarian thumbed through his omni-tool, probably searching for jobs as well. A female salarian sat back at a booth with her feet kicked up. A small drone hovered nearby, and she giggled as he bounced around.

Suddenly, the door burst open and some troops in armor Rammer had never seen before burst in.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," said the leader. "We're looking for biotics, so step forward and no one gets hurt."

Are there as many troops as the 3 characters? (Likely) Yes

Are they Level 0?  (likely)  Yes

Okay, so we have 3 troops, all Level 0. Which means their stats have to equal 0. Let's start with:

Enemy Trooper Level 0:  Damage 1, Defend, 0, Effect -1, Power 0, Toughness 1.

Weapon:  Assault Rifle.

"Finally," mumbled Rammer, who slowly pulled out his rifle, but kept it hidden under the table. 

One of the troopers approached Krix and noticed his drone. "Turn that thing off."

"Yes sir," the salarian said quickly.

"Not fast enough," said the trooper, who pointed his weapon at Krix's head.

Enough of this, thought Rammer, who pointed his rifle at the lead trooper.

This will be a Clash, with Rammer performing A Damage action while the trooper will perform a Defend to get out of the way.

Rammer has Damage +3 vs. the trooper's Defend 0.

(Clash)  Does Rammer win the Clash? (+3 = Nearly Certain) Yes.

(Damage) The shot + the 3 pt difference means the trooper is now at -2 RS.

The shots hit the trooper in the back and he collapsed to the ground, groaning. The other two aimed their weapons, but the quarian suddenly vanished and the salarian summoned another combat drone.

I'll combine actions for this one. Everyone is performing a Damage. The trooper's total is +2. Krix/Laslow are combining Power with Damage and have a combined Damage of +3. 

(Clash)  Do the heroes win the Clash? (+1 = Likely)  X-Yes.

(Damage)  Both troopers suffer -1 RS.

Laslow fired from his cloak and struck one trooper. Krix's drone opened fire on the other trooper and scored a hit. Both spun around to face their new adversaries.

For the next round, I'll roll for each individual.

First:

(Q)  Do the troopers remain?  (Unlikely)  Yes.

(Clash)  Does Rammer win?  (+3 vs. +1 -2 = +4 = Certain) Yes - Random Event.

Since Rammer is not using a power, he doesn't have to worry about cooldown.

(Event)  Stop, Information.

(Damage):  +3 vs. +1 - 2 -1 (losing the Clash) -1 (3 pt difference) = -3.

(Incapacity)  Is the trooper Incapacitated?  (+6 = Certain)  Yes - Random Event

(Event)  Positive, Harm

(Q) Does his friends try to get him out of there?  (likely)  Yes.

Rammer fired again and caught to trooper in chesr. The trooper hit the ground with smoking coming from his armor. His buddies immediately grabbed his arms and dragged him out, with their hands raise.

"We're good. We're good."

"We better get out of herem" said Krix, "before CSec shows up."

(Q) Is CSec there yet?  (likely)  No.

"Strange," said Laslow, as they slipped out of the building and into an alley. "I thought they'd be here by now."

"They've got bigger problems than this part of the station," said Rammer.

"Still," Krix replied, "we better not push our luck."

(Q)  Do they see any more of these troopers?  (50%)  Yes.

(Q)  More than one?  (likely)  No.

(Q) Is he looking for a fight?  (likely)  Yes.

(Q)  Does he notice the heroes?  (50%)  No.

Turning a corner, the encountered a lone trooper, apparently eyeing a courtyard. He seemed to be searching for a specific target.

Rammer raised his rifle, but Laslow gently pushed the barrel down. "Let's not attract too much attention, shall we?"

Krix approached and activated his omni tool.

Krix will attempt to use Overload as an Effect to knock the trooper out. Since he's also sneaking, he gets a -1 to his roll. This actually nullifies the trooper-s -1 (he's avoiding the attack), so it's just Krix's +2.

(Clash)  Does Krix win the Clash?  (+2 = Very Likely)  Yes.

Sneaking up on the trooper, Krix launched a blast of electricity. It struck the trooper, who collapsed to the ground. The three pulled him back into the alley and tied him up.

"Okay," said Laslow, "it's time to see what's really going on."

As the trooper awoke, Laslow leaned over him.  "Wakey wakey."

The trooper's hands instantly fell to his belt, but he found his hands were bound and his belt, nowhere in sight. 

"Who are you after?" Laslow asked.

For this interrogation, I'll use Laslow's Effect (+2) vs. the trooper's Defend (0).

(Clash)  Does Laslow win the Clash?  (+2 = very likely)  X-Yes.

"We're looking for biotics," the trooper said.

"Who do you work for?" Laslow asked.

(Q)  Does the trooper even know who he works for?  (likely, right? I mean he has to)  No

Guess not.

"They appear in garbled messages to us," the trooper answered. "We never met them, but they pay us a lot to bring biotics in alive."

"Well, not today." Standing, Laslow glanced at the trooper's omni-tool. "Think you can make anything of this?"

Krix studied it.  "Possibly, but it might take some time. Let's find a place to crash while I look this over."

"What about him?" Rammer kicked the trooper.

"Leave him for CSec," Krix answered  "I'm also making a copy of all this info and leaving it."

"Leaving it?" asked Laslow. "Why?"

"For them to find," answered Krix. "That way they know what they're up against."

"Good." Rammer nodded. "Maybe they'll hire us to figure this out."

So that was the first adventure. Pretty quick, but it got the job done. Next time, we'll see where else our friend's adventures take them.

Zeroes to Heroes Part 7 - Arriving in Town

 "Well, we're here." Natrius took in the sights as they passed through the gates of Oasic Brook.  They saw brand new buildings with shops and smaller eateries.  (I rolled, "New, Mundane," for a description.)

"Is you friend nearby?" Zook asked.

(Q)  Is Vina's friend close by?  (50/50 because I have no idea)  No.

(Q)  Does Vina have a general idea where she is?  (Likely)  No.

Vina scanned the area, frowning in the process. "She told me she worked in a shop, but that doesn't exactly help us much." Spotting the closest shop, she headed in that direction. "Let me ask around."

"I'll go with you," said Jaree, "in case you run into trouble."

"I'll come too," said Milo. "I'm good with talking to people."

(Detail)  What kind of shop is it?  "Increase, Leave."

(I'm counting the word 'Leave' as in 'Leaves,' like plants.)

The three walked into a plant shop.

(Q)  Is the merchant a male?  (Likely)  No

(Q)  Is the merchant young (like an adult)?  (Likely)  Yes - Random Event.

(Event)  "PC, Harm."

(uh oh!)

(Q)  Is the merchant attacking?  (50/50)  Yes.

(Q)  Is it a case of mistaken identity?  (Likely)  Yes - Random Event.

(Event)  "Strange, Environment."

(Q)  Is the person drugged?  (50/50)  Yes.

As they entered the shop, a young woman spotted them a pulled out a dagger?  "You!" She pointed the dagger at Vina. "Leave!" She charged right at Vina, who stood there in shock.

This Clash has multiple objectives. The woman is attacking Vina, which is called Damage. However, Vina has no desire to fight, so I'll be rolling Escape for her. In addition, Jaree and Milo will try to restrain the woman, which is Effect. I'll use Jaree as the main character, with his +1. He gains +1 from Milo for +2 total. Vina would add +1, but since she's doing something different, it's not counted. The woman gets a +1 to attack.

(Clash) Does Jaree win the Clash?  (+2 + -1 = +1 or Likely)  No. 

Vina suffers a -1 RS.

The woman flew quicker than the two men and stabbed Vina right in the shoulder. Crying out, she stumbled back into a wall. Eyes blazing, the woman charged forward.

Let's try this again. Now Vina's -1 RS does not affect Jaree's roll. However, she can still suffer serious injury, or worse from the attacks.

(Clash) Does Jaree win the Clash?  (+2 + -1 = +1 or Likely)  Yes.

This time, the two men grabbed the woman's arms, holding her back. Stepping forward, Vina wrested the blade from the woman's hand. 

"Why'd you do that?" Vina asked.

"Don't give me that, Suzy," snapped the woman. "You know well what you did!"

Vina shrugged. "I don't even know Suzy."

Just them Zook and Natrius rushed in with a couple of guards, who restrained the woman.

"What happened?" One of them asked.

As Natrius applied a salve to Vina's shoulder, Milo addressed the guard. "She attacked my friend, calling her Suzy and saying she knew what she did." He pointed to the door. "We've been in town only a few minutes.

(Q)  Has this happened before?  (50/50)  No.

"Have you seen anything like this?" asked Milo.

The guard shook his head. "She's usually a sweet young lady."

Raising an eyebrow, Natrius walked over to the plants.

(Time for Natrius to make a Nature check, but I'm going to combine it with a Medicine check, vs. Diff  0.)

(Ability)  Does Natrius discover what caused the woman to snap?  (+3 = Nearly Certain)  No.

(Q)  Do the plants look familiar to him?  (Likely)  Yes.

Natrius shook his head.  "Sorry, none of these plants could cause someone to violently attack a person for no reason."

"We'll investigate," said the guard. "In the meantime, go about your business."

I'm treating the woman as Challenge Rating 0, for 10 xp, which I'm splitting between Milo and Jaree for 5 xp each. I'm also keeping a record of this thread for a future use.

Milo sighed. "Let's try another shop."

(Detail)  What is the next shop?  "Help, Expectations."

(Q)  Is Vina's friend here?  (Likely)  X-No.

The three entered a shop that had an older man sitting behind a desk. "Good morning," he said. "This is the Oasis Brook Welcome Center."

"Oh," said Vina, "I was looking for my friend, Pera."

The man nodded. "Pera Tutor? I just sent her to the city to deliver a correspondence. Is there anything I can help with?"

Milo stepped forward. "Well first, we could use a healer. Our friend is injured. Second, another friend back home for horribly sick from a loaf of bread I had never seen before and we wanted to find a cure for it."

First I'll make a Persuasion check for Milo. I'll keep the Difficulty as 0 because I don't see any problems with it.

(Ability)  Does Milo pass the check?  (+2 vs. 0 = Very Likely)  Yes.

(Q)  Location of Healer?  (Very Likely)  X-Yes.

(Q)  Information on bread?  (Likely)  Yes.

Glancing out the window, the man spotted Solgi as the others tended to her. "Oh my!" Leaping out of his chair, he rushed outside to her. "Oh, you poor thing." Turning his head, he whistled. "Brother Romas, over here!" A man in robes ran over and the older man pointed to Solgi. "She needs to be healed."

"I'll take care of it." Romas signaled for another man in robes and they led Solgi away.

"I'm going too," said Zook, "to make sure everything is okay."

"I'll go too," said Ivor. "We'll keep watch."

As they left, the older man turned to Natrius. "Strange bread, you say? There's a specialty bakery a few blocks away. They might know."

"Now, I'm curious," said Kerri. "I've baked for years, but I never saw bread make a person sick."

After the man locked the door to his welcome center, he led them down the road.

(Since Milo passed his check, I'm granting him 10 xp.)

Natrius and Kerri were led to the specialty bakery. A plump man in white clothing greeted them.

"Greetings! May I help you?"

"Did you happen to make any special bread lately?" Natrius asked.

I'm making a roll for Natrius to see if the baker cooperates. I'll make the Difficulty 0.

(Ability)  Does Natrius succeed?  (+1 vs. 0 = Likely)  Yes, but barely.

Cleaning his hands, the man frowned. "I'm really not supposed to give out information about people's private purchases."

"Well," said Natrius, "something in this bread killed one person in our village. The other is clinging to life."

The baker's eyes went wide. "Are you serious? Hold on." He disappeared into the back.

Kerri leaned to watch the doorway. "If he runs, I'll get him."

Fortunately, the man returned a minute later, holding a ledger. "According to this, I was asked to make some bread with Elven Spice for a ceremony."

"Do you still have some?" Natrius asked.

 (Q)  Does the baker still have the spice?  (Likely, as it would make my story easier)  Yes.

"Just a second." Scanning a shelf, he found a pouch that had been place in a basket. "Here it is. Turns out, too much spice messed up the bread so I put the rest aside. She never asked for it, and I forgot about it." He handed it to Natrius.

Natrius opened the pouch, stared at the powder, and sniffed it.

This will be a Nature check with a random Difficulty of -2.

(Ability)  Does Natrius succeed?  (+2 + -2 = 50/50)  No.

"What is it?" asked Kerri.

But Natrius shook his head. "I'm not sure. Let's go talk to the healers. Maybe they know." He looked up to the baker. "Can we take this?"

"Keep it." the baker held up his hands. "If someone died, I don't want anything to do with it. Just know I thought it was a present or something.

"What can you tell us about the woman?" Kerri asked.

Natrius looked to her. "Woman?"

Kerri nodded. "He referred to the person as 'She.'"

I'm going to use the Character Crafter for this.

(Identity)  Intimidating.

(Mind)  Education.

(Body)  Authority.

(Talent)  Knowledge.

(Awesome, I can use my idea for the villain.)

"Oh," said the baker, "older woman, spoke like a scholar, lot of big words."

Natrius looked to Kerri. "Let's go talk to the healers."

I rolled 2d10 to check for a Random Event in between scenes but didn't get one. 

The two entered the temple to find Romas and another priest tending to Vina and Solgi. The two looked better but they still sat with towels over their wounds.

"How are they?" asked Natrius.

"They'll be fine," Romas said.

"Did you learn anything?" Zook asked.

Natrius produced a pouch. "The baker said an older woman gave him this to make bread for a special occasion. She called it Elven Spice." He showed it to Romas. "Can you identify this?"

Since Romas is an NPC, I'm just going to make it a question.

(Q)  Can Romas identify the stuff in the pouch?  (Likely)  X-Yes.

Romas nodded. "This is ground-up Hemlock. If made correctly, it can cause hallucinations, muscular weakness, or worse."

"By worse," said Natrius, "I'm guessing you mean death."

The priest sadly nodded.

"Is there an antidote?" Natrius asked. "Our village healer died, and our other friend is bedridden."

(Q)  Is there an antidote?  (Likely)  No.

(Q)  Does that mean the blacksmith is dead?  (Very Likely)  No.

Romas shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of."

The group sighed, looking to each other in horror.

"Does that mean our friend won't make it?" Zook asked.

"Well, how long has it been since you first saw symptoms," asked the priest.

Zook thought about it. "About a day."

Romas considered this. "Well, it'll probably take a while for him to completely recover, but if he's still alive, then he should survive."

Zook smiled. "That's a relief." He turned to Natrius. "Did you find out where that stuff came from?"

"Apparently an old woman gave it to the baker to make bread for some event," Natrius answered.

"An old woman, you say?" Zook considered this.

"According to the baker," Natrius added, "she was intelligent, but that's all he could say."

"Wait, you said the stuff causes hallucinations, right?" asked Vina. "What about the woman who attacked me?"

Zook nodded. "It's worth a try."

(Checking for another Random Event - None).

Zook and Natrius returned to the florist shop.

(Q)  Are guards still there?  (Likely)  Yes.

(Q)  Is the florist there and better?  (Likely)  Yes.

Entering the shop, the two found the florist from before, sitting in a chair while a guard questioned her.

Seeing the two approaching her, she forced a smile. "Oh, my, I am so sorry about your friend. I don't know what came over me. Is your friend going to recover?"

(Q)  Did the old lady give her some bread?  (Very Likely)  Yes.

"She's fine," Zook answered. "Did you meet an old woman recently?"

"Perth?" The florist nodded. "She asked for apple seeds to mix with her Elven Spice recipe. She then gave me some of her bread afterward."

"Was she alone?" Zook asked.

The florist thought about this and then shook her head. "She had two men with her. I just assumed they were her sons or something."

Natrius turned to Zook. "Two men that we assumed were adventurers gave the bread to our friends."

"And she gave some to this woman and allowed the baker to keep the rest." Zook considered this. "I think she hoped they would eat the rest, thus removing witnesses."

Natrius turned to the woman. "Did you eat a lot of the bread?"

She shook her head. "Just a few bites."

"So, that's why she only lost her piece of mind for a few minutes," said Natrius, "and the baker didn't eat any." He rubbed his chin. "So why take out a village blacksmith and healer?"

Zook thought of this, and then his eyes went wide. "She means to attack our village."

Total Part Kill - Mythic's Player Emulator

 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.