To Bring Down the Sky - One Shot

Tonight I ran a quick game of my revised Underground Adventures rules using the really cool adventure To Bring Down the Sky. It's an excellent little pointcrawl on floating islands with one page of fancy isometric map, one page of key for the map and two pages of explanations around certain aspects of the adventure. Everything else is like 40+ pages of handouts and aids, mostly tailored for modern stuff - battle mats and pregens for I think D&D 5e?

The two PCs were Sinead the Cat-Burglar (also a Catgirl) and Belgbub the Reformed Torturer.
We went for a little more than two hours, here's a rundown of what happened:

- A wizard's apprentice named Hugo fell out of the sky, attacked by an angry wyvern. Belgbub caught him while Sinead jumped the beast and stabbed it to death.

- Hugo, dazed, explained that the Island was in danger, that his mistress was gone, and that he needed their help dealing with the wyverns and preferrably the whole situation... and that yes, yes he would sign a written contract guaranteeing payment to the adventurers after they pressured him into doing so. Joke's on them though as he used that to make a Geass spell, compelling all involved to respect the contract.

- To get up there, he handed them a phoenix feather that had just enough power to levitate all of them up a hole at the bottom of the island that led to its surface.

- They first went to the crystal field east of the entrance hole. Belgbug smashed one into powder and snorted some of it, out of curiosity. Tasted like pickles, no other effects. Sinead put the glowing feather on the shimmering surface of the aura surrounding the crystal field, and it sucked out all of the field energy, leaving the crystal field dead and gray, but the feather looking shinier. Also the island began to shake, and Hugo wondered if that might be a bad idea. A weird electromagnetic ghost with two heads appeared to the PCs, telling them that they could charge up the feather even more to really exploit its abilities, with a voice like it's coming out of a transistor radio. Hugo noted that the PCs' visions reminded him of the strange prisoners down the fortress.

- They rushed to the farm to the north to go find Hugo's adoptive halfling parents, Jim and Ertha. They were safe and sound but barricaded in their home - in the barn were two sleeping wyverns and a terrified calf having survived their feast.

- After considering burning the barn down and leaving the calf to burn, they abandoned the idea since the barn's doors were ripped apart by the beasts and they'd surely wake up if set aflame. So instead the catgirl tried to sneak up to them to eye-stab the monsters. She stabbed the first but the other woke up in a panic. That's when Belgbub charged it, his Wheel of Justice in hands, to pin it against the wall. Sinead gently brought the calf to its owners while Belgbug nearly got his face bit off fighting the winged lizard. He took a few step backs, stunned, and Sinead finished the wyvern.

- Jim and Ertha said goodbye to their farm and the whole group crossed the bridge back using ropes (as it was crumbling at an alarming rate). Sinead went last, doing tightrope walking while carrying the Calf as the bridge was riddled with holes at this point. It fell entirely as she got back onto the main island.

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Some Thoughts

As usual, two hours seems like an overall superior choice for online games. Easier time staying focused and I found that we accomplished a fair number of things, pacing was ok (rocky start cause of technical issues + I was tired). One thing that bothered me was Hit Points and the Critical Damage stuff. It really doesn't do much for me anymore. I get the appeal though - one of my players described it thus:

Which is something I've talked about before - random damage brings a certain sense of kinetic fun, rolling some dice to see what happens next is exciting; but it also felt to me like we could have had the same scene with just freeform description + saving throws if needed and the general guideline I use of "you're either Fine, Injured or Down." I'm thinking of adding some classes to UA since I gave the PCs 12 HP and called them a Warrior and Scoundrel, as I wanted the notion that they were Adventurers first and foremost, with their background being added texture to that, thus the archetypes.

Living Rules Update (removed rules in italics, additions below)
- Danger Rolls = 2d6 vs 9+ (7+ with advantage).- Reaction Roll = 1d6 (1 Hostile, 2-3 Wary, 4-5 Friendly, 6 Helpful).
- Surprise = d6 vs d6, beat by 3+ to achieve surprise, lasts until it is lost.
- Initiative = Declare Intent, Resolve Every Action Simultaneously.
- Attacking = d6 Damage (2d6 keep highest w/advantage, lowest if impaired), Ablative Armour, HP.
- Armour subtracts up to 2 points from Damage, additional protection is Bonus HP.
- 1d6 HP for Mundane Characters, PCs treat a roll of 1-3 as 4 instead.
- At 0HP, take Critical Damage. Subsequent hits are at +3 on the Critical Damage table.
- PCs gain 1HP per dangerous adventure survived up to 12 max.
- Named NPCs and tough monsters gain 1HP per violent encounter with the PCs survived, no limit.
- Morale = 2d6, low means poor morale, high means strong morale, few are willing to die violently.

Have a Little Class
In addition (or as replacement) to their Background, characters get a Class, which can be picked by the Players, assigned based on Background or rolled at random for more unique takes (like a Clown Wizard). They are:

Warriors (you're strong, an expert in all tools of war, and you're harder to kill than most: you can sacrifice a weapon, shield, or armour you're using to protect yourself from harm entirely).

Scoundrels (sure, you have quick wits and quicker fingers, but mostly you're lucky. Once per adventure, you get to turn one of your failed danger roll into a success. And you hold your own with the knife or blade in a pinch).

Rangers (your sense are sharp, you know your way with ranged weapons, and you can survive in the wilderness with little trouble. Pick an animal that fits your favoured environment. You can commune with your inner beast to do any of the following: predict the weather a day in advance, calm a furious wild beast, or talk to friendly animals in their tongue. Every time you do so, you take on an aspect of your inner beast and make a Danger Roll - if you fail, it's permanent. 

Wizards (you're smarter than any of these fools and you know it. You don't need weapons, they're the tools of cretins... And armour is just too inconvenient. But it's fine - you've got Magick on your side. Begin with three spells of your own devising, which should include Effects & Conditions. Ask the Dungeon Keeper for a random table or list to pick from if you don't want to create your own.

Quicker & Dirtier Violence
Attacks are described in natural language, with an emphasis on Intent and Means on both sides, and may be resolved either through conversation or with the help of Danger Rolls. A character is either Fine, Injured or Down (whether incapacitated to a crawl, knocked out, dying or dead from context). 

Note to self: between "fine" and "injured", think about describing cuts, bruises and the general tussle of violence even if you're not calling a Danger Roll just yet. Find the d100 Ways to Die PDF for when characters do die violently.


Goodbye Again, Non-Diegetic Advancement
No more HP so no HP to gain, but I gave in to having fancy special moves for the PCs to do which stay diegetic, so I'mma try and make more of these and tie them to interesting situations or NPCs.

Without a Class, a PC feels more like a cheap/low-level adventurer, which works good for a grittier style. With a Class, they instantly feel more Important or at least, above the norm. So that's two levels of play, and you could have them get a Class after a certain milestone in a campaign.

Heck, go even further and have "prestige classes" of sort for the PCs to seek. Like:

Dragon Hunter (monetize the killing or capture of at least three dragons. Some people fancy themselves slayers of trolls or giants. First of all, rude. You on the contrary, are rendering a great service to the community by murdering giant fire-breathing killer lizards who hoard treasures. It's simply due reward that you'd take it for yourself afterwards, it's a tough business you're running. And you do have a contract fee, too. You got really good at negotiation and tradecraft, as well as figuring out a particular dragon's weaknesses. They're all unique and marvelous creatures you see. Really valuable body parts, too. It'd be sort-of messed up if they weren't also a blight on the countryside, rampaging and stealing everywhere they go.

 

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LIVING RULES (quick reference)
- Danger Rolls = 2d6 vs 9+ (7+ with advantage).- Reaction Roll = 1d6 (1 Hostile, 2-3 Wary, 4-5 Friendly, 6 Helpful).
- Surprise = d6 vs d6, beat by 3+ to achieve surprise, lasts until it is lost.
- Initiative = Declare Intent, Resolve Every Action Simultaneously.
- Morale = 2d6, low means poor morale, high means strong morale, few are willing to die violently.
- Classes (Warrior w/shields shall be splintered; Scoundrel w/luck, Ranger w/beastmode, Wizard w/spells; possibility of unlocking fancier, "prestige" classes by doing stuff in the game world)