Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Hello everybody! It's a pleasure to be here! This community seems amazing and very friendly and it's great to now be a part of it!

I learned about this game two weeks ago through Amazon. The mere cost of 5 USD for a full game system seemed to good to be true. I quickly purchased it and what I've been studying for the past week has been extremely eye-opening to me. I have the other 9 printed supplements coming to me this Sunday!

This isn't the first RPG system I've studied but it's the first one where I feel confident enough to give running the game a shot! Not only that, but I've invested in a nice Battle Mat and even went so far as to purchase a fantastic PDF from a company called Inkwell Ideas that's chalk full of paper miniatures! In for a penny, in for a pound!

Taking the advice found on the back of the core book, I visited this site and saw multiple ways to expand this fantastic system and a wonderful community of extremely generous people. I knew I just had to be part of this!

I've been preparing an adventure out of Adventure Anthology 1. The first one by Ray Allen titled Gold in the Hills.

I'm very excited to run my first game of this and this adventure seems like a very good choice for a starting game. It starts of simple but it should also show my players how much trouble they can find themselves in, if they are not careful.

However, I wanted to pick the brains of some people on here. There is one aspect of this that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around.

In this adventure, as my players approach this old dwarven mine, there is a chance that they could instantly make this adventure a lot harder on themselves if they are not careful...

For those unfamiliar with this adventure, very close to the entrance there will be two goblin guards that are in fact sleeping. If woken up, they will shoot a volley of arrows at the players, arm a trap that is in the next section of this mine and attempt to retreat to alert the other goblins inside!

My question is, in your mind as a GM, what would constitute a group of players "being careful"? I know that a Level 1 Thief has a 25% chance of Moving Silently, but as for other player characters I'm just wondering how I should handle this.

If a party is moving their normal movement but not running head first into the fray, this would allow them to see the two sleeping guards. From that point, it's really up to the players how they want to handle this. Let's assume though and they decide that the Fighter should try to sneak up to them while they sleep and take them out. If this happens, do you think as a GM it would be reasonable to have them take some sort of Stealth test, to see if this Fighter could slowly approach them without waking them up?

If successful, do you think that I, as a GM would make it too easy on my Fighter to give the first goblin he attacks a -4 penalty to it's AC for being asleep and then when the second goblin wakes up because of this, to roll for the Goblin to see if it's in fact surprised?

Sorry that my first post is such a lengthy one, but I am looking forward to the responses from the community and gaining insight from people more experienced at this then I!

In my mind if a party is moving with an attempt to be quiet (no yelling or talking without concern, the thief or scout or ranger out in front of the group a short distance, basically making an effort to reduce any noise they might make) then they have a chance of surprising the goblins. I would make a surprise check (1d6 rolled) with a bonus added. If the roll is a success then they spot the sleeping goblins without waking them, if the roll is missed by one then they awakened the goblins but they do not have the chance to set the trap (they could still launch a volley of arrows and run). If it was more than one, I would let it play out with the goblins doing what is listed.

There are many ways to play out that encounter and my way works for me but maybe not for you.

Thank you for the response MetroKnight!!!

This was very helpful! You've given me ideas as to how I might handle this encounter.

As a new GM, my ultimate goal is to make sure my players have fun. Your way of handling that encounter sounds very fair, in my mind. It makes sense to me.

I'm very much looking forward to try and run this adventure. Thanks again MetroKnight!!!

I don't think there's really a good answer to your question, but there's probably a lot of good guidelines. If your players just waltz on up without a care in the world, play it strictly by the rules and the dice rolls. Yeah, they'll have a hard time, but that's what happens if you're not careful. That's the easy part for you.

The hard part is, "what constitutes being careful?" You'll have to make a spur-of-the-moment decision and the art of being a game master is being realistic and consistent in these rulings. Does somebody tip-toeing in full plate mail armor really not make any noise? Does a thief uprooting a bush to hide behind work as concealment? If so how much? Your players are hopefully going to be resourceful and creative, and you'll have to judge the situation based on that.

Thank you orobouros!!! I agree, this is a difficult question to answer, as to what "being careful" really means. We all perceive things differently for sure. With all that being said though, you did give me some great advice and insight as to what I should be keeping in mind while I run this part of the adventure.

I have a new level of respect for the work that GMs put into running even a pre-made adventure. It's pretty crazy, but it sure is fun to prepare for one.