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Old 03-16-2010, 08:29 AM   #1
Greg 1
 
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Default [DF] Sample Encounters

Back when I played AD&D, scaling encounters was easy. All you had to do what check the level of the PCs and follow a formula, perhaps tweaking numbers a little for the size of the party or other such factors.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, understandably, has no such formula. While the advice it offers on scaling encounters is very useful, it would also be useful to have sample encounters of about the right degree of difficulty, especially for parties of 250 point characters.

Hence, I invite you to write them up and post them here.
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Old 03-16-2010, 08:55 AM   #2
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

There is great latitude in the builds of DF PCs, as we post these, might I recomend that we also post the party average Damage, Attack, DR, and Acitve Defense scores?

Ideally a spread would be great also as well as the relevant averages for resistible effects. (Will, HT etc)

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Old 03-16-2010, 09:35 AM   #3
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

Heres an Encounter I built in less than a few minutes and worked pretty well. (We just had session last night)

Converted From Lest Darkness Rise

Party Data (Avg)
6 PCs
(Barbie, 2 mystic knights, Cleric, Thief/Scout, Matial Artist)
B/P/D = 14/13/11
Melee = 15
Melee DMG = 2d
Ranged = 14
Ranged DMG = 2d
Move = 6
DR = 3

Weepers in the Graveyard:

4 Statues
HP:20
Attack: 22 DA to 12
DMG : 2D
DR: 4
ST:20
DX:12
HT:12
Move:3
ActiveD:10
Special Abillities/Advantages - Nil

After Battle Report:
The idea was to have a warm up combat that would make the Players sit up and take notice that DF can be deadly! It worked out well and although several of the players took damage, the health poitions and Cleric kept them in the fight. The party began surrounded by the statues and the fighters(2 mystic Knights, 1 Barbarian) joined them in Melee to mixed results. Due to the relatively high DR, the Martial Artist was limited in her offensive effectiveness, but her Acrobatics and Dodge kept her in it! Note that the statues as written here did NOT have IT(Homogenous) or other advantages that may have been suitable. The Defense -5 from the DA made shield blocking Extremely important, but it was balanced by the fact that the statues only got one attack each. Ultimately, the High St barabarian gains MVP of the encounter for savage High damage attacks with his axe and the scout was well acquited with her bodkin points and well targeted attacks.

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p.s. I was originally going to take them through 'Beneath Castle Everglory', but Spring Break with my Niece and Nephews is getting cut in half :(
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Old 03-16-2010, 09:52 AM   #4
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nymdok View Post
Heres an Encounter I built in less than a few minutes and worked pretty well. (We just had session last night)
Excellent! Just the sort of thing I was hoping for. Were these 250 point characters?

Quote:
Converted From Lest Darkness Rise
...and I was certain that you'd coverted them from Doctor Who!

What does this stand for exactly?

Quote:
Attack: 22 DA to 12
Quote:
p.s. I was originally going to take them through 'Beneath Castle Everglory', but Spring Break with my Niece and Nephews is getting cut in half :(
Oh, what a shame! :(

By the way, I've noticed that 'Beneath Castle Everglory' as it stands is full of typos, ambiguous statements and clumsy English. As soon as I get my computer back from the repair shop, I'm going to give it a good going over and offer people an updated version. I'm particularly interested in your input as you are a crunchmaster.
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Old 03-16-2010, 10:12 AM   #5
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

I'm going to be coming home really late tonight, but after work tomorrow I'll dig up my old campaign logs and notes from some of the encounters I put my online group through and give you some reports.

One encounter that stood out in my mind was the secret chest ambush, taken from one of the Dungeon Crawl Classics on e23 and converted to GURPS (The Vault of Tsather Rho).

The area is a section of cavern with gradually lowering ceiling heights, leading to a cramped 3' tall end of the room with a treasure chest. Enough of the cave ceiling has been carved out via Shape Stone to let someone open the chest lid but it was heavy enough and jamned in enough to be difficult to remove. The catboi thief squirmed in and got the chest open, but was attacked by the 1' tall animated statuettes sitting inside and guarding the treasure.

Two were marble, and two were iron, and IIRC I gave them Homogenous, DR, and appropriate HP based on weight and I'll have to dig up my notes as to what else went into their stats.

The problem of posture penalties and reduced mobility for PCs, but not for the minikins, combined with their relative toughness for their size and the surprise value of the encounter made for a pretty interesting fight, from my perspective as GM. The posture penalties were avoidable, if you concentrated on crawling away from the minikins long enough to get out from under the low ceiling, but they'd be running after you and punching you with hard tiny fists the entire way.

Part of the loot was the raw material value of the iron minikins ;)
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Old 03-16-2010, 11:30 AM   #6
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno View Post
...I'll dig up my old campaign logs ....give you some reports.

One encounter that stood out in my mind was the secret chest ambush...
I would LOVE to see it Bruno!

Examples like this of how to use terrain to give the opposition 'home court advantage' are great, especially for GMs looking for ways to challenge their delvers in ways that arent always increased DR/AD/DMG.

One of the things I read often on these boards is how balancing an ecounter is somethign you have to 'get a feel for.' I hope that the examples posted in this thread speed that process along and help new GMs to become competent designers quickly!

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Old 03-16-2010, 11:24 AM   #7
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg 1 View Post
Excellent! Just the sort of thing I was hoping for. Were these 250 point characters?
No these were NOT. These were 185/-35 (Sell offs not counting towards dissad limit) built using the DF templates as Guides. Some buffing of these may be needed for full on 250's. Hopefully, providing the party averages will help others to set theirs up.

Its also worth noting that this encounter was a standard 'plain vanilla' environment. The cemetery was essentially wide open and the party was totally free to move.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg 1 View Post

...and I was certain that you'd coverted them from Doctor Who!

What does this stand for exactly?

Oh, what a shame! :(
22 DA to 12 means that they had an attack skill of 22 and used Deceptive attack. You should have seen the look on the fighters' faces! Smug in their '15 Block', when I told them to defend -5 they were horrified!

Lo were there many Doctor Who References! I told them openly these were not of that type :)

That was a great DW episode though!

Shame doesnt begin to cover it! I had orginally planned for a 10 day vactaion with 5 days of gurps (4-12 hours per session) and the other days Munchkin, Robo Rally, Magic and other games. It was going to be an Epic Nerd-a-palooza! Sadly the best laid plans....


Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg 1 View Post
By the way, I've noticed that 'Beneath Castle Everglory' as it stands is full of typos, ambiguous statements and clumsy English. As soon as I get my computer back from the repair shop, I'm going to give it a good going over and offer people an updated version. I'm particularly interested in your input as you are a crunchmaster.
I've not seen the latest draft, but as I recall, it was good work well done! Although you may not be happy with the editing thus far, those ambiguous statents and typos can be the kind of wiggle room that inspires GMs to do things unusual!

Nymdok
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Old 03-16-2010, 11:51 AM   #8
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

4 Faceless Stalkers (from Pathfinder #2)
Code:
ST	18		HP	24		SM	0
DX	13		Will	13		Speed	7.00
IQ	11		Per	11		Move	7
HT	14		FP	14		DR	3 (Tough Skin)
Defense: Broadsword Parry 12; Unarmed Parry 11; Dodge 11

Fine Broadsword (16): 3d+2 cut/1d+5 imp (4d+2 cut/2d+3 imp from behind)
Punch (15): 1d+2 cr (2d cr from behind)

Traits: Combat Reflexes; Extra Reach 1; Double-Jointed (no bones); Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction, /2; only vs. "crushing"); Morph (only medium humanoids; takes extra time, 10 minutes; free action to change back); Night Vision 5; Striking ST +4 (only from behind)
Skills: Acting-15; Brawling-15; Broadsword-15; Disguise-15; Escape-20; Sleight of Hand-16
Class: CE aberration (shapechanger)
Notes: Languages Aquan, Common, Gift of Tongues

versus

Cleric, Knight, Martial Artist, Scout, Swashbuckler

B/P/D: 14/14/12
Melee: 18 (2D)
Ranged: 18 (2D)
Move: 5
DR: 4

Conditions: dim light (Vision-4), about 40 yards above ground on planks and wooden beams
Conclusion: hard fight, dominated by swashbuckler due to Perfect Balance (until knocked out) and scout; martial artist's Kiai had been very useful, too; the party had been low on resources and was expecting the boss fight after this encounter; without Luck and Buying Success this encounter may well have ended some careers
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Old 03-16-2010, 12:53 PM   #9
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg 1 View Post
Hence, I invite you to write them up and post them here.
As this thread fills out more, this is going to be an amazing resource. Great idea Greg 1. ^_^

Quote:
Originally Posted by thalassogen View Post
4 Faceless Stalkers (from Pathfinder #2)
Coolness. Have you converted any other monsters from Pathfinders?
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Old 03-16-2010, 01:25 PM   #10
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Default Re: [DF] Sample Encounters

Nymdoc, you seem to have some players who like Mystic knights. How are they doing? Too strong? Too weak?

My experience is that the template is perhaps a little too focused/well optimized, meaning that if the other players don't go for optimal builds, the mystic knight might be a little stronger than the others.
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