My own little KotS session. - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

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#1 antioch May 24, 2008 1:22:03	Since the Gleemax blogs are down, I figure this is the next best spot to front a kind of unofficial review, crossposted from Paizo (where I've been skulking about since the blogs went down): 1st Session Show We didnt get to play long, as one player didnt show up and a few were late. All in all we clocked in about three hours total. Two adventure hooks were used: the wizard (Ren) was sent to map out the region, while the Jason and Narlexus were investigating demonic/undead cults. Jayne showed up late, and we figured that he was originally traveling with Ren as a kind of scout. The players browsed over the sheets to get a handle on where things were listed as well as what they could be expected to do when combat broke out, which they expected since I had the King's Road map rolled out along with their minis in tow. To try and keep things clear, here are the names, race/class, and player of the characters. Jason (dragonborn paladin; ...Jason) Narlexus (half-elf cleric; Dion) Ren (human wizard; Amanda) Jayne (halfling rogue; Springstead) Mystery Dwarf (dwarf fighter; Bat Jew if he shows up next time) At some point, Jason had to go home, forcing Dion to run both characters (so they ended up sticking together a lot). Now, one good was that I was able to make a Stealth roll against their Perception "Defense". This made it so that I didnt have to ask for their Perception modifiers, or tell them to make checks themselves, which would alert them to the fact that something was hiding from them. Nope. While they were busy discussing plots hooks, character backgrounds, and pop culture jokes I informed Jason that he had been struck by a javelin for 4 damage, but managed to avoid/block the other four. This revealed the location of five kobold minions, and thus, combat officially began. The first round was the worst, as each player asked expected questions. "Can I use at-will powers every turn?" "Is it better than just attacking?" "What does a healing surge do?" As the rounds progressed, more kobolds appeared, and more kobolds died, things began to flow faster. Dion was really happy with the fact that he wasnt running around just healing: he could trigger the paladin's surge with a minor action, allowing him to rush a kobold minion and dispatch it with a furious vengeance. The major downside was that the players were rolling really bad, and it was at this point that I reminded them that they had action points to burn, and also about flanking. Jayne was especially happy about this, as he could dart up, make an attack with sneak attack rolled on, and use a move action to dive back behind the paladin. I also had a lot of fun, and was able to take them on, no holds barred. I charged them with my minions, moved the dragonshields into flanking positions, and pegged Ren and Narlexus with sling stones since my slinger was safe behind a wall of pint-sized scaled critters. I've said it before: 4th Edition makes monsters way more fun. Its like my own little party that doesnt take way too long to figure out what to do with. Once the kobolds were taken out, they wrapped up their trip to Winterhaven. The inn was the first building they saw, and both Jason and Narlexus felt that they could get some info on the whole cult-issue. The interacted with the bartender, the crazy old dude, and a minstrel that I put in there to liven up the place. They found out a few key points of information: Kobolds were becoming a bigger issue and threatening trade to and from the town. There was a ruined fortress to the north. *There is a dragon burial site to the south. Ren didnt much care where she went: she just wanted to make sure she could note important locations and roads. Narlexus and Jason were more interested in helping the place out, hoping to at the same time destroy any sites of eeeeevil. The first stop was the burial site, which the local sage was able to point out amongst some sarcastic commentary about Ren's vocabulary (since Amanda was having a hard time thinking of certain words, I figured the guy would be kind of a jerk). Heading south, that triggered the encounter at the site with a really annoying gnome, a pair of ridiculously dangerous guard drakes, and a quartet of human rabble (Farmer from Deserts of Desolation). This fight proved that it is possible to get taken out, and likely die if you are too careless. Jayne got taken out by the halfling slinger's rapid sling attack and the gnome's crossbow. Jason and Narlexus were occupied with the guard drake's 1d10+6 bite attacks as the human rabble beat at them furiously with shovels. This fight was a lot harder since they lacked the dwarf fighter, but Narlexus laid down "suppressive fire" as Jason rememebered to USE divine challenge, backing away towards the fallen halfling to hit him with healing word. They had to use all their dailies, but came out on top. Had I really wanted to, the gnome could have probably "finished off" Jayne with a quick crossbow bolt to the head. They eventually managed to locate and take out the gnome, and commenced with the obligatory looting. The key item was an amulet of health that grants a +1 bonus to all Defenses and Resist poison 5. Well, that and an unconscious prisoner. We'll pick up from there next session. My thoughts are that the gameplay flows a LOT smoother. Everyone had something interesting to do when the fight broke out. No one ran out of thematic abilities and had to relegate themselves to one unsuccessful action after another. Also, I was able to go all out on my players and not really concern myself with accidentally killing them. The closest I got was when the gnome dropped Jayne. Yeah, I could have probably pegged him in the head to finish the job, but it was largely a test session. We did some fairly minor social-RP and used a few skills. Nothing terribly complicated. Anywho, nothing felt out of place, and nothing was lacking.

Show

We didnt get to play long, as one player didnt show up and a few were late. All in all we clocked in about three hours total. Two adventure hooks were used: the wizard (Ren) was sent to map out the region, while the Jason and Narlexus were investigating demonic/undead cults. Jayne showed up late, and we figured that he was originally traveling with Ren as a kind of scout.
The players browsed over the sheets to get a handle on where things were listed as well as what they could be expected to do when combat broke out, which they expected since I had the King's Road map rolled out along with their minis in tow.

To try and keep things clear, here are the names, race/class, and player of the characters.
Jason (dragonborn paladin; ...Jason)
Narlexus (half-elf cleric; Dion)
Ren (human wizard; Amanda)
Jayne (halfling rogue; Springstead)
Mystery Dwarf (dwarf fighter; Bat Jew if he shows up next time)

At some point, Jason had to go home, forcing Dion to run both characters (so they ended up sticking together a lot).

Now, one good was that I was able to make a Stealth roll against their Perception "Defense". This made it so that I didnt have to ask for their Perception modifiers, or tell them to make checks themselves, which would alert them to the fact that something was hiding from them.

Nope.

While they were busy discussing plots hooks, character backgrounds, and pop culture jokes I informed Jason that he had been struck by a javelin for 4 damage, but managed to avoid/block the other four. This revealed the location of five kobold minions, and thus, combat officially began.
The first round was the worst, as each player asked expected questions. "Can I use at-will powers every turn?" "Is it better than just attacking?" "What does a healing surge do?"

As the rounds progressed, more kobolds appeared, and more kobolds died, things began to flow faster. Dion was really happy with the fact that he wasnt running around just healing: he could trigger the paladin's surge with a minor action, allowing him to rush a kobold minion and dispatch it with a furious vengeance.
The major downside was that the players were rolling really bad, and it was at this point that I reminded them that they had action points to burn, and also about flanking. Jayne was especially happy about this, as he could dart up, make an attack with sneak attack rolled on, and use a move action to dive back behind the paladin.

I also had a lot of fun, and was able to take them on, no holds barred. I charged them with my minions, moved the dragonshields into flanking positions, and pegged Ren and Narlexus with sling stones since my slinger was safe behind a wall of pint-sized scaled critters.
I've said it before: 4th Edition makes monsters way more fun. Its like my own little party that doesnt take way too long to figure out what to do with.

Once the kobolds were taken out, they wrapped up their trip to Winterhaven. The inn was the first building they saw, and both Jason and Narlexus felt that they could get some info on the whole cult-issue. The interacted with the bartender, the crazy old dude, and a minstrel that I put in there to liven up the place. They found out a few key points of information:

*Kobolds were becoming a bigger issue and threatening trade to and from the town.
*There was a ruined fortress to the north.
*There is a dragon burial site to the south.
Ren didnt much care where she went: she just wanted to make sure she could note important locations and roads. Narlexus and Jason were more interested in helping the place out, hoping to at the same time destroy any sites of eeeeevil. The first stop was the burial site, which the local sage was able to point out amongst some sarcastic commentary about Ren's vocabulary (since Amanda was having a hard time thinking of certain words, I figured the guy would be kind of a jerk).
Heading south, that triggered the encounter at the site with a really annoying gnome, a pair of ridiculously dangerous guard drakes, and a quartet of human rabble (Farmer from Deserts of Desolation). This fight proved that it is possible to get taken out, and likely die if you are too careless. Jayne got taken out by the halfling slinger's rapid sling attack and the gnome's crossbow. Jason and Narlexus were occupied with the guard drake's 1d10+6 bite attacks as the human rabble beat at them furiously with shovels.

This fight was a lot harder since they lacked the dwarf fighter, but Narlexus laid down "suppressive fire" as Jason rememebered to USE divine challenge, backing away towards the fallen halfling to hit him with healing word. They had to use all their dailies, but came out on top. Had I really wanted to, the gnome could have probably "finished off" Jayne with a quick crossbow bolt to the head.
They eventually managed to locate and take out the gnome, and commenced with the obligatory looting. The key item was an amulet of health that grants a +1 bonus to all Defenses and Resist poison 5. Well, that and an unconscious prisoner.

We'll pick up from there next session.

My thoughts are that the gameplay flows a LOT smoother. Everyone had something interesting to do when the fight broke out. No one ran out of thematic abilities and had to relegate themselves to one unsuccessful action after another.
Also, I was able to go all out on my players and not really concern myself with accidentally killing them. The closest I got was when the gnome dropped Jayne. Yeah, I could have probably pegged him in the head to finish the job, but it was largely a test session.
We did some fairly minor social-RP and used a few skills. Nothing terribly complicated. Anywho, nothing felt out of place, and nothing was lacking.