Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

TSGS is very freeform. In other words, I make it up as I go along. BUT, it's also old-school, in that we let the dice decide what happens from among the possible results.

This was a case where the rules didn't cover the situation... see, he had successfully made the stealth roll to hide from Simon, so Simon had no warning, and therefore really didn't "deserve" a defensive roll. If we had a "luck" attribute, maybe. (Possibly TSGS needs such an attribute.) So I cut to the chase, making the attack roll vs. the Tough attribute (which Simon lacks, so he has a single die) but discounting the normal bonus.

This is also why I asked the players to trust me going into this. If we were playing BFRPG, I'd show every die roll; but this is more like interactive fiction than it is like a wargame, so I decided to hide the mechanics most of the time. Since you commented on the situation, I thought I should show the rolls for that combat sequence.

The fight with Brandon in the lounge (when Simon was being played by Rosisha) is a good example of what happens when the die rolls go nuts. Brandon took a mess of hits, but just kept making the Tough rolls, and stayed upright much longer than one would have expected. There are a couple of other places where the die rolls changed the results I would have "expected."

As your characters have already surmised, this is a bit of a railroad. But it's not a story railroad, where you are all just puppets for my shadow-play; rather, it's a mechanical railroad, where you must do certain things to move forward, but there is no "plot" per se that you must play out. I know the "initial conditions" of each stop on the railroad; what you do once you arrive at a stop is entirely up to you.

And the dice.

I just re-read your question. FYI, the Germans planned the whole thing. They had two men stationed away from the two officers, hidden in the darkness and undergrowth; they made their Stealth rolls in advance, with time to prepare. Still, I decided not to credit them with any bonus dice since they'd have to move to attack your characters.

Both Artie and Simon missed their detection rolls. Simon in particular had even odds of making the roll; it just didn't work out that way. Initiative wasn't rolled for this combat, since the order of operations was not in question. Unlike BFRPG, in TSGS it's not always necessary to roll (because actions are declared before the roll would be made, if the actions don't require a roll, no roll is made). In this case, it didn't matter if you won or lost initiative, since you didn't detect the ambush. Had either character detected the ambush, then initiative would have been needed.

Incidentally, I gave Artie a bonus die since he remarked that it might be a trap (indicating wariness). It didn't help.

your last post was what I was asking about. I don't want to see the mechanics as we play. I am fine with you rolling everything to keep this more of a narrative, but I was wondering about this because I really can't see this outcome ever occurring naturally the way it did. I figured we had to have blown a ton of die rolls. I mean we came in looking around expecting an ambush and missed them (blew the dice role). Artie said the actual words, and I said I was watching for someone stalking me. Then after we saw the two in the light, i instructed Artie to keep a watch specifically for ambushes. Then we waited quietly for a while to see what was what. (Again we blew dice roles.) Then we began moving and creeping around again looking for trouble. Those guys had to be the most patient sailors on the planet. (Again we blew dice roles.) Then I am pointing a gun at Sullivan ready to shoot at a moments notice and I don't hear anything until my head is bashed in and I don't even pull the trigger accidentally or on purpose. And the Germans had such perfect preplacement that both artie and I moved into the exact postion where they wanted us to be. The freaking dice must really hate me.

You only get one chance to notice someone hiding, so you only had one roll (each) to blow. Wariness may get you a bonus, but you still get one roll. Simon said he was looking for someone "stalking" him; they were holding still (no stalking, just hiding) until Simon spoke to the officers, focusing his attention there.

You only get one chance even if I move again to search? Ok, noted, no need to prolong the action then next time I'll just look get my response and and then leap. So how far did he have to move to smash me in the back of the head?

This is an indication of how well your mechanics are working. It works so smoothly that I forget its dice rolls making it work. And dice rolls can be ridicules sometimes, like a dance hall girl beating the big burly fighter in an arm wrestling competition Maybe if the fighter was super drunk, been on a weeklong forced march, and injured and the girl was a strong farm hand type.

Craztcrypt's new avatar is scary.

I'm playing around with my avatar, I thought it was time for a change. Still not sure how much I like this one, but we'll see, lol.

Rredmond has had to leave us, and new member Alhmzahad will be taking over Will Thornton.

Shortly, we'll get 3/4 of the group back together, and start things moving along again.

Sorry to see Ron go, and welcome to Alhmzahad.

Thanks Solo and Nazim.

Glad to be aboard. I jumped on this sight unseen simply because it was Dirigible. Quite pleasantly surprised to find a game set in the 30's. Reading busily and looking forward to getting on the ship.