Apex Session 4 - Preparation

After the previous session almost-missed-it-due-to-me-not-paying-attention (and I have a draft blog of that evening mid-sulk, not sure I'll post that one or not!), I'm doing a bit more work so I won't forget about some of the rolls I want them to make.

The next session they will be continuing up river. There may be some encounters along the way, I've yet to make up a random encounter table similar to Traveller. But I probably will. Today's exercise was working on the rapids and how they will traverse them. I'm using some of the mechanics in the game and also some basic RPG mechanics which I've not yet used in this game.

First, I found a decent map that has 3 rapids. While I do have a lot of map tiles for overland and dungeons and caves, it turns out I don't have any for rivers. I may have to look around so I can make my own maps as needed.

So here we have 3 rapids they need to get up. My ever-growing PDF of notes now has this section for this particular section:

River rapids rolls and role playing. The rapids consist of three rapids. The Apex Queen will be barely able to make it up these, and possibly take some damage.

For each rapid:

For those not holding on to the tiller, make a standard action check (4+, add in dexterity bonus) to avoid a dip in the river. They can make their save roll if the action check fails. For the pilot, same action check to successfully get up the river. There would be a bonus if someone is in the front looking for the best way up, up to 2. For whoever is maintaining the boiler, action check to keep that going. Failing that, roll on damage table below.

Chase mechanics a la rapids: need to get ahead of the river. Roll per rapid to see if you “beat” the rapid or have to retry. Add +1 per player in the front giving directions, & +1 for Archie & Ace.

 I will have to make the narrative exciting - white water splashing, the boat rocking and working hard to go up the rapids. It may take several turns, and each turn they may end up taking some damage and risk falling overboard. This is where the game mechanics come into play.

For everyone other than the river pilot (Ace), each turn they will make a roll to avoid getting tossed overboard. This is the basic action check, and dexterity modifiers apply. With Apex, this is a 4+ on a d6, so a 50/50 chance without any dexterity bonus. If they fail that, they will roll their saving roll to see if they go overboard. At level one, the saving rolls are not great: our Gadgeteer starts at 15, meaning Archie needs to roll a 15 or higher on a d20. Dr. Tong, our Academic, has 14+, our Adventurer Ace is holding the tiller so is exempt but would have a 13+, and our Raider Ilsa is oddly the worse off at 16+. Perhaps Raiders are assumed to be able to avoid having to make such rolls!

The Apex Queen herself may take damage during the "chase" up the river. Each turn, Ace will roll a d6, and add up to 3: +1 just because he & Archie are working as a team, and then +1 per player at the front of the boat giving directions up the rapids. As most of my players won't read this until I bring it to their attention, I may hint at it during game play but let them figure it out. So they need to get a total of 3 points to get up the river: we both roll, and whoever gets the highest gets that point. So if I roll higher, they are still fighting the rapid. And each turn, Archie rolls to see if he can keep the boiler going in the rough water. If he fails, I've worked out a damage table as below for 1d6. I may allow for a saving throw by one player and if they make it, they can prevent the problem:

1. 1 day of supplies goes overboard
2. boiler gets wet, -1 on the next roll
3. fuel goes overboard, -1 on next roll
4. damage to the hull - 1d4 (there are 18 hit points for the boat)
5. damage to the propeller shaft, will need maintenance later as it will slow things down
6. damage to the prop

The last two happened in the African Queen movie, which this is based on (and if I could watch the Jungle Cruise movie, I'd probably grab parts of that. The previews helped me also to decide to make this a bit more pulpy, so "magic" coins and things are now present).

 Anyway, these are the mechanics behind this. I missed having them make rolls to prevent falling in the river last session from that tail whack from the mosasaurus. While I generally play a rules light game, I do want to bring in the mechanics for the game. And I will remind the players that they do have a Grit Point. This will allow them to re-roll or roll with advantage. Page 93 has the rules for that.

I am hoping to have a good narrative of the rapids. A lot may be happening at the same time, and I want a lot of player choices. Thinking if someone does fail their save roll, another player may be able to try & save them with an action roll. Same for losing things over the side of the boat. We'll be making up parts of this as we go along, but I wanted to have a basic framework within the game rules to help me.

Next session should cover the next 1-2 days of travel, which, depending on encounters, should put them at the river origins, a lone stone tower guarding the badlands they will have to traverse to get to the temple. I'll spend more of this weekend working on the rest of that river trip, but have already started thinking about the overland trip as well. Blowing up one of the maps shows it holds up pretty well:

I still miss playing at a table: I do handouts!

Tong's map on parchment with the "magic" coins and a compass rose I have just because