My Sunday group has dwindled until it is just the father left. While I was hoping that the grittier and mechanically more complicated game of OSE would entice them back to the table, so far it has not. A few weeks ago, we created a Drow assassin, and this week we got to play. I did some of my set up in the previous blog post, and here I'll have a game recap and some lessons we learned.
Being a level 1 character, Dynin was tasked with the killing of Penn Cravann, a mid-level merchant who lives in Edge City. He has one week to accomplish this goal. Being this was his first foray as a trial member of the as-yet-to-be-named guild of assassins, he was going to be shadowed by Ren Fterra, a 2nd level assassin and member of the guild. While the death was preferred to look accidental, the final requirement was the death of the merchant. While Dynin did ask why, no answer was forthcoming (and may have counted against him for being too nosy for a rookie).
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| Not Gynin but I wanted an assassin picture |
He and Ren watched Penn the next couple of days. Penn and one or two bodyguards would visit the Feathered Grouse, a slightly upscale tavern where he had contacts and kept an ear on the trading world. He never drank enough to get drunk, being a social drinker who preferred to have his company get drunk and possibly spill secrets. Next, they checked out the rooftops on the route back to Penn's mansion. Rolling randomly, we have a 1 story flat roofed building, a deserted warehouse/store, a 4-story house with terra cotta tiles, and the last house before the alleys got too wide to cross as another low building. The warehouse was a brick-style building and apparently being worked on: there were loose bricks and buckets of sand on that roof.
Checking inside, they encounter 4 giant rats. Deciding to attack, he and Ren do manage to kill the rats of unusual size. However - Dynin actually got bit and took 2 points of damage - half his hit points! Fortunately, another roll indicated that the rat's bite did not poison him with some vile disease. Finding 400 gold buried behind a crate Dynin recognizes that this may well be a drop point. And that is something that may figure in later as there is going to be some disappointed person out there expecting to find that sack of coins!
They also find an open sewer: the workers have been using that to dump garbage and relieve themselves as they work on the building. Seeking to find a good escape route, they go into the sewers. And I brought out my sewer tiles - see, getting to use my toys! Heading away from the warehouse above, the next few covers are sealed, rusted in or too hard to move. Finding one they can lift, it looks like it opens to a storeroom. Hearing someone approach and yelling "I'll be getting the next barrel then, oi!" they drop the top back down. But at least they have a potential escape.
Going back to the warehouse, they encounter some little troglodyte things who happen to be cousins to Boogle Bob and Boogle Bill. A brief conversation comes along, but everyone seems okay to be just passing by. The beasties continue on their way as Dynin and Ren climb back up.
Taking a day to rest, Dynin recovers fully (1d3/day of full rest, so a good bit better than TFT). Finally, the night he plans on killing the merchant arrives. Hanging out in an alley, the guard, carrying a lantern on a stick, and Penn take their leave of the Grouse. Rapidly placing a gold coin on the sidewalk, Dynin manages a graceful climb back up the building and gets his bucket of sand to drop on the unsuspecting merchant.
Now, I ruled this was not a ranged attack though technically it could be. For me, ranged attacks are weapons designed to attacking at range: dropping a bucket is simply an attack. I could still read the rules other ways, but unless you've trained at dropping buckets from a 1 1/2 story building, I felt that this was not a ranged attack. And in fact, I gave him disadvantage as it was a fair height, and while he does have infravision, a bucket full of sand is not exactly a finely honed weapon. While the guard notices the gold coin ("Eh Guv'ner here be a coin!") and stops to pick it up, Dynin drops the bucket. And misses. The guard is immediately drawing his sword. Deciding that a brick to the back of the head may work Dynin tries to leap down the back of the building. I was not making him roll under non-stressed situations: anyone should be able to climb a ladder if not rushed. But under stress things are different. Sadly, even though he has an 87% proficiency in climbing sheer surfaces, the brick in one hand and in his hurried state he falls off the ladder, landing in a pile of refuse, a dazed look on his face and a brick loosely grasped in one hand.
Ren looks over the building ledge and shakes his head. Deciding to see if there are resources to the merchant's mansion, they return to the guild where yes, there are plans to the building.
And this is where we left things.
A few things we both learned while playing. First, I was not as well prepared for this game on many fronts. I am not as familiar with the rules as TFT, so there was a fair amount of looking things up. I've played a couple solo sessions, so I was okay with looking things up. Fortunately, my player was accepting of that as well. Next, that lack of planning was not too bad: I just drew on the battle mat the buildings, and a d4 determined their height. I did not have all the buildings mapped out for 4 blocks, along with who owned them, who lived there, and all that. I may still do that sometime, but random rolling up things on the fly works well enough. I also did not have other pedestrians out and about, though there was a 2/6 chance of the town guard wandering through every 10 minutes (the wandering monster roll). I never rolled a 1 or 2 in the time they were waiting. Same for the sewer crawl in fact: only that last encounter for the hour they were down there.
I was also a bit loose in some of the rules: not really sure there is advantage/disadvantage in OSE but I just like that mechanic more than a +1 or something. At least for some things. Plus, it means more dice to roll! And the final thing I've noted before about me running games: I am just not good at handling NPCs much. I have a hard time controlling/thinking like more than one person at a time. However - I am working on that, though it still needs a great deal of work.
Playing one on one definitely has its challenges. We both decided he wanted to do a single character I think, and as an assassin is usually a solitary thing, that works out well. But the game is not as much fun as having a group where there may be multiple opinions and goals.
After we finish this next session, we may switch back the TFT and just run one of the Death Test games, or another solitaire game I am already playing by myself (session 1 and session 2 so far) as those are designed for solo or GM-less games.
Can one on one games be fun? I am certain they can be - great for exploring characters. I think it depends on the player and GM. I'll probably poke around for posts and things about playing that sort of a game. Like everything else, it is a thing to practice to get better at.
And who knows - maybe I can get some of my other players to show up for a Sunday morning game. Though I believe that most are not morning people so that may not work out. But perhaps I'll ask.
And yes - always wheels within wheels. Penn is getting killed not for being a merchant, but because he belongs in the Seekers of Perfection. He has killed a brother of someone who discovered that her brother had been moved to a secret wing of the Our Lady of Mercy Hospital. Discovering that there was a cult trying to perfect the human body and using patients as guinea pigs (and why yes, those do exist in my world, though probably not of unusual size) she is having a one-person blitz against the cult. And secondly, yes, those gold coins were part of a drop off. There are going to be some angry blackmailers who may be able to track down what happened to their gold. Perhaps it was marked.
This gives me a few other adventures and NPCs, some who may join Dynin, some who may just want to kill him. Perhaps we'll figure out a good dynamic for playing these games. I do think part of hat is they do require more preparation than for a group. A group will often just take off and handle a good chunk of the game for you. There is a bit more pressure with only 2 people playing!
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