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Skarg · 09-21-2019, 03:38 PM

Yeah, as someone who knows the rules, it was painful to watch, and if new people try to watch that session to learn... I feel sorry for them.

Someone should really explain to that GM:

1. Don't roll initiative for every PC (unless they start fighting each other).

2. Initiative determines which entire side gets to choose whether to move before or after their opponents move.

3. Players can think about what action they'll take and should only move far enough to allow that, but they don't have to fully commit to an option during the Movement Phase. (in the video, the people who wanted to Disengage were being talked to as if that's what they must do later as their action).

And when fighting small nuisance creatures (especially when given special rules for them as in Death Test):

4. Small nuisance creatures do not engage anyone.

5. Small nuisance creatures do not use the HTH initiation procedure or restrictions.

6. In this case, there is no limit to the number of those creatures that can be on one figure.

And I don't know how consciously the GM wants this to be a cake walk, but usually Death Test is a serious challenge, at least for four 32-34 point Melee characters without any talents, so:

7. Having five powerful PCs is probably going to be a cake walk. (At least one character seems to be ST 13 DX 11 IQ 11 at least, and with several points in ITL talents which DT opponents don't have.)

In Death Test 2, a party is allowed to rest only 15 minutes in each room, enough to rest 1 point of spell fatigue. In Death Test 1 I usually allow the same, but it actually does not mention being allowed to rest at all. Again, this is a balance issue, and an important part of how Death Test is balanced to be challenging, so:

8. Letting the party rest for a couple of hours to recover all of their fatigue when they have two wizards in the group is going to also be a huge gift to the players and will remove the element of needing to conserve strength for spells. The resting restriction is another important part of balance in Death Test (each room is usually quite beatable by four 32 point figures, but the test is to be able to survive several such fights in a row without much rest). The wizards should have been told this at the start, so they know to ration their spells.

Of course you can keep playing with five powerful PCs and hours of rest between rooms. It will probably be a cake walk for them, and not much like Death Test is designed as, but that may be ok. They might manage to have someone die anyway since they have no experience. (They might have managed to die in the first room if that one PC had gone berserk...)

09-21-2019, 03:38 PM	#4
Skarg Join Date: May 2015	Re: Live In The Labyrinth Yeah, as someone who knows the rules, it was painful to watch, and if new people try to watch that session to learn... I feel sorry for them. Someone should really explain to that GM: 1. Don't roll initiative for every PC (unless they start fighting each other). 2. Initiative determines which entire side gets to choose whether to move before or after their opponents move. 3. Players can think about what action they'll take and should only move far enough to allow that, but they don't have to fully commit to an option during the Movement Phase. (in the video, the people who wanted to Disengage were being talked to as if that's what they must do later as their action). And when fighting small nuisance creatures (especially when given special rules for them as in Death Test): 4. Small nuisance creatures do not engage anyone. 5. Small nuisance creatures do not use the HTH initiation procedure or restrictions. 6. In this case, there is no limit to the number of those creatures that can be on one figure. And I don't know how consciously the GM wants this to be a cake walk, but usually Death Test is a serious challenge, at least for four 32-34 point Melee characters without any talents, so: 7. Having five powerful PCs is probably going to be a cake walk. (At least one character seems to be ST 13 DX 11 IQ 11 at least, and with several points in ITL talents which DT opponents don't have.) In Death Test 2, a party is allowed to rest only 15 minutes in each room, enough to rest 1 point of spell fatigue. In Death Test 1 I usually allow the same, but it actually does not mention being allowed to rest at all. Again, this is a balance issue, and an important part of how Death Test is balanced to be challenging, so: 8. Letting the party rest for a couple of hours to recover all of their fatigue when they have two wizards in the group is going to also be a huge gift to the players and will remove the element of needing to conserve strength for spells. The resting restriction is another important part of balance in Death Test (each room is usually quite beatable by four 32 point figures, but the test is to be able to survive several such fights in a row without much rest). The wizards should have been told this at the start, so they know to ration their spells. Of course you can keep playing with five powerful PCs and hours of rest between rooms. It will probably be a cake walk for them, and not much like Death Test is designed as, but that may be ok. They might manage to have someone die anyway since they have no experience. (They might have managed to die in the first room if that one PC had gone berserk...)