First Monster Hunter game

[Gef]

I ran my first Monster Hunters game Monday, by request, and thought I’d share my impression. I don’t own the books myself, but I expect to buy them on the strength of Missions alone. Very nice work, RPK.The Loadouts are really useful too.

I’ve been a GURPS gamer for nigh half my life now, but I’m a stranger to the “template-and-go” style. For introducing complete newbies to the hobby, I decided to give it a try, especially since one player answered my query into genre preferences with “Zombies!” The players have settled on supers as their campaign choice and they’ll be building their own characters while I’m working on a world; MH is just to introduce the system and intended as a one-shot.

Gotta say, these templates seem a little weird to me. If I were working from scratch, I’d’ve allotted 200 points per character and still expected greater skill in the specialty for each one. With 400 points, how is it that the Warrior tops out at skill 16 to hit? Fighting in torchlight takes -3, and I’d expect him to soak that easily, or go for a rapid strike at the same penalty if unpenalized by lighting conditions. Oh well, for this purpose, they’ll do. No doubt they’d seem to improve very fast with earned points, as they have nothing left to buy but skill, although I don’t intend to take it that far.

Sure, I could open up character design, but for this purpose I built the characters myself, restricted to the templates as written, with extra points (mainly from quirks) available for anything at all. I kinda like the idea of the Experiment, even though listing it as a main PC template has certain implications for the game world. I’m not so happy with the execution. Despite the odd background, he winds up a generalist, superhuman but with no special ability to sense or deal with the supernatural, some nifty but expensive combat benefits less generally useful than Weapon Master. However, I can’t spring a witch on a bunch of newbies confined to short sessions, so I brought in an Experiment after all and built him, unlike the other powered characters, with Alternate Abilities. That seems to work, several improved senses as alternates to Enhanced Time Sense, Enhanced Move and Super Jump as alternates to a bursty ST bonus. I’ll let you know if he turns out to be overpowered. I calibrated his athletic abilities to exceed world record holders, but only a bit. This worked out great, for players now perceive the character as "faster than the fastest man" instead of "sorta fast, but slower than a car."

After the players picked their characters and I ran through the basics, we only had time for a bit of roleplaying: The local sheriff’s deputy who called their Patron for help showed ‘em one of the homeless camps that’s been empty lately, bizarre because we’ve had such a mild winter. The Experiment got a bare whiff of the chemicals secreted by someone experiencing terror, and the Sleuth found the tracks of someone who walks with a shuffling step, leaving the campsite under a far heavier burden than he brought in. The Crusader found only an old, mindless ghost, more of an impression really. He has Restless Undead as a Hidden Lore specialty, so I broke down the basics on zombies: 1) Plague Zombies, technically alive but infected. 2) Voodoo zombies, alive but soulless, who can be cured when the soul is returned. 3) Actual “undead” zombies, or skeletons, animated with magic to claw themselves out from their graves and serve in the army of some necromancer. Hidden Lore for Restless Undead can answer more detailed questions about case 3. Yes, zombies of all varieties often shuffle, but then again, so do living people. So, a couple of positive clues, and a negative clue.

Wanna know what’s really going on? My players won’t read this, so I can tell you:

I’m setting this adventure in the town where I live. One of its salient features is that it sits right atop the San Andreas fault. Another is a nearby marine corps base, used for desert training. Hmm, where else do you find marines and earthquakes? Well, the marines provided aid in the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Haiti. Ooh, that brings in a voodoo connection! Somewhere in Haiti is a dead marine whose skin is still on active duty.

A little Wikipedia surfing brings me to Golden Flower, Queen Anacaona of the Taino tribe who befriended the Spanish explorers. She was rewarded with betrayal and execution. Could she have become a vengeful loa who caused the 1751 quake that turned Port-au-Prince to rubble? Well, this is a Monster Hunters game. So, there is a fetish associated with this loa, not obviously voodoo because it would be based on Taino iconography, and the skinchanger has it. He needs souls to activate it again, so he needs a bokor.

(Clearly the more recent major earthquake in Japan was not the work of this loa, because it killed fewer, even though it was stronger. If you thought that had something to do with building codes, you must not be Illuminated. Hmm, how come Illuminated doesn’t show up on any of the PC templates?)

The nearest voodoo botanica is a 1½hr drive from here, but there’s a new age spiritual retreat near the Joshua Tree national park (http://www.jtrcc.org/institute-of-mentalphysics/). I once gave a lift to a fellow headed there, and he spent the trip telling me about the healing power of herbs, so I figure it might be the best bet for a down-on-his-luck bokor. He’d at least have checked out the place, and someone might remember him.

So this bokor is a dabbler really, fleeing a drug charge in New York. He tried to work a voodoo charm for luck, and all he accomplished was to draw the attention of a skin-changer. Now he’s busy making zombies, but the zombies are a byproduct. The main thing is to get the souls to fuel the fetish to cause the Big One to finally hit Los Angeles. His better at voodoo because of the mentorship of the skin-changer, and that means that one of the ingredients in his zombie ointment will be cyanide distilled from cassava. It has been established that the PCs’ last mission was in Brazil, so the Experiment, with his skill in Biology, will have a good chance to recognize the toxic tuber first
cultivated there over 10000 years ago. The Sleuth knows some Archeology, so he may remember that it was a staple for the Taino in Haiti.

There are several ways the party could go from here. Not all of the missing homeless people are zombies; some fled. Find one and ask what he was scared about. Check the Institute of Mentalphysics for a lead to the bokor. Elderly people are missing too; they move to the area for pulmonary benefits. Find one who hasn’t disappeared yet, and mount a stakeout. Or pose as homeless themselves. Find a ghost, but this is harder because the bokor’s victims leave no ghosts. A character not in use has Psychometry, so he’ll be engaged if more players show for next session. Worst case scenario, the skinchanger won’t need to be so careful as his plans near completion; he won’t need to focus on victims who won’t be missed. On Sunday morning, his zombies will attack a church in full attendance, one which will be conveniently,tragically flattened by the earthquake to explain the deaths. So, not tioo much to it, but hopefully we can wrap it up in one more short session.

GEF

[Gef]

Notes on Warrior weapon selection: A very nice choice is the qian kun ri yue doa. It gives +2 to parry like a Staff and inflicts swing-based cutting damage. Take -1 to hit unless you have the exotic weapon perk, but it’s way cheaper than a sword, so you can afford enhancements like Fine balance, not to mention silver coating. Reach is 1, but it also has blades over the knuckle guards so you can use it in close combat too. If your warrior has Gigantism, don’t forget to pay extra to modify the grip, but don’t upscale the whole weapon or else you’ll lose the close combat capability.

For best reach, take a sharp urumi, and upscale for SM +1. Reach is 4 with swing-based-cutting damage, but there’s a drawback: Poor penetration against armor. It’s a one-handed weapon, so use the other hand for parrying with a Bladed Hand or a weapon that can be used with Main Gauche skill. If that weapon is a sai or deer antler, it’s great for disarming.

For reach without the drawback, you could upscale a glaive, but then you get a different drawback: It becomes unready. So instead, upscale a naginata, which counts as a 2H sword for Fast-Draw. Reach is only 3, but it does not become unready, and if you can settle for a thrust, you can parry, too. Again, it’s cheap to enhance, perhaps with an armor-piercing backspike which can also be used to hook. Alternatively, upcscale a bastard sword. Then you can swing and parry in the same turn (without a Defensive Attack), but it’s more expensive. Weapons this size need to come in pieces, like the Kurgan's sword in the movie Highlander, but I figure the cost modifier for disguise covers that.

For throwing, pick up some hungamunga for swing-based cutting damage. With the bonus from weapon master, small ones will do, and they count as knives so you can Fast-Draw them.

This is a multicultural build: Qian kun ri yue dao is a Chinese weapon, urumi is Indian, hungamunga African, and upscaled-naginata-with-backspike could represent one of the many variations of European polearm.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Gef

Gotta say, these templates seem a little weird to me. If I were working from scratch, I’d’ve allotted 200 points per character and still expected greater skill in the specialty for each one. With 400 points, how is it that the Warrior tops out at skill 16 to hit? Fighting in torchlight takes -3, and I’d expect him to soak that easily, or go for a rapid strike at the same penalty if unpenalized by
lighting conditions. Oh well, for this purpose, they’ll do. No doubt they’d seem to improve very fast with earned points, as they have nothing left to buy but skill, although I don’t intend to take it that far.

The pros and cons of these templates have been discussed elsewhere in the forums.


I actually find those in MH4 to be better point/skill level optimised and also better for the kind of game I like (more Junior Hutners).


In regards to those in MH1 though. The wilcards skill rules do make a 16! better than just a normal 16.

I have more than a little attraction to not having players just buy high skill sword for exampel and cop everything as a penalty to that. (though everyone buying nightvision, + the same perk list might end up being annoying too). Also techniques are a lot more cost effective with wildcard skills. So targetted attack eye for example is going to be a lot cheaper than buying another level of blade!.

Anyway after 3 or 4 sessions the players will have 'broken' the templates open with earnt points so I pretty much think the problem goes away by then.

[Gef]

[QUOTE=lachimba;1308985]In regards to those in MH1 though. The wilcards skill rules do make a 16! better than just a normal 16./QUOTE]

I've been skeptical of wildcard skills. In my last campaign I used 'em for a specific purpose, as Words for syntactic magic, because I wanted them to be more expensive than regular skills. I'm doubly skeptical of using them in the same game with Talents, so now I'll be able to say I tried it. I gather that MH was well playtested, so maybe I'm worried about nothing.

GEF

[lachimba]

[QUOTE=Gef;1309138]

Originally Posted by lachimba

In regards to those in MH1 though. The wilcards skill rules do make a 16! better than just a normal 16./QUOTE]

I've been skeptical of wildcard skills. In my last campaign I used 'em for a specific purpose, as Words for syntactic magic, because I wanted them to be more expensive than regular skills. I'm doubly skeptical of using them in the same game with Talents, so now I'll be able to say I tried it. I gather that MH was well playtested, so maybe I'm worried about nothing.

GEF

I never liked them until MH1 and the new rules there (basically they give you bonuses so you get a luck type effect).

They might still work out less cost effective than straight gun skill for example - I havent done the math-- but in a long campaign anyway spending poitns isnt going to be an issue

[mlangsdorf]

In my game, the sniper was some 800 yards away from the target and had to make a snap shot at a target's skull before the target murdered the team's witch. I think his final effective skill was about a 4. Generally, that's not a very good shot, but thanks to Gun! and a pile of destiny counters, he was pretty much guaranteed to make it. Converting much of that Gun! skill into Guns (Rifle) would have made the shot more likely, but not guaranteed without the destiny points. And with the ! skill, he's also much more skilled at concealing or maintaining his weapons, using them in odd ways, and the like.

As a mental exercise, I've been converting various Dungeon Fantasy characters to use the ! skills suggested in Adventurers, and it really can make a huge difference. Knight! allows knights to be skilled horsemen and lancers without sacrificing their primary role as heavy infantry (and also lets them be better tacticians, surprisingly enough), and Cleric! and Druid! are almost pure win for those two archetypes. Swashbuckler! is more of a mixed bag, as you trade off pure offensive skill for more mobility and utility, but Thief! and Scout! are very solid.

I think if you went the other way, and converted the MH guys to using non-wildcard skills, the reduction in secondary ability (Holdout, Armory, etc) would actually be pretty painful, especially for the small bonus in primary combat power and the lack of destiny points.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

In my game, the sniper was some 800 yards away from the target and had to make a snap shot at a target's skull before the target murdered the team's witch. I think his final effective skill was about a 4. Generally, that's not a very good shot, but thanks to Gun! and a pile of destiny counters, he was pretty much guaranteed to make it. Converting much of that Gun! skill into Guns (Rifle) would have made the shot more likely, but not guaranteed without the destiny points. And with the ! skill, he's also much more skilled at concealing or maintaining his weapons, using them in odd ways, and the like.

yes, thats what I would expect. Though if you haev to make a similar shot 3 to 4 times in a row Gun! might win out.