Minotaur Stats and Other Questions

[bizarrojoe]

I've been hosting ROC with some friends over the past couple of weeks, and I have a some questions:

1. What are the stats for the minotaur? There is no mention of them in the book; I made some up on the fly but I'm sure that there are official stats somewhere. Sadly, the party of 6 in my game turned my minotaur into mince meat...

2. What's the point of the purchasable items that don't have any tactical use? For example, steel-toed boots, fancy scarves, etc. They don't offer any magical, armor, skill, or other benefits, but still cost a lot of silver. Are they just flavor text, or is this something that I as a GM should fill in?

3. Has anyone else felt that the adventure gets a little too easy with 6 players? It seems that way from my POV as the monster-wrangler so far. Are there any suggestions on how to reasonably tweak encounters to make them more challenging?

4. In some areas of the adventure, characters can either rest 6 hours, or longer. If they rest longer, there's a chance that they're attacked. What's the benefit of resting 6 hours versus 8 hours?

[Lord Inar]

I think a quick benchmark is that since they're meant for 4 characters you could simply increase the encounters by 50%. You could do this either by increasing numbers of individual monsters (say wolves) or increasing ST of Big Bads. Unless the Big Bad monster gets an attack on each character every turn, though, just increasing ST by 50% won't be enough. When fighting Big Bads with a large party, I'd add a few "henchman" monsters to keep them busy. There's always some orcs/zombies/robots/cultists lying around to toss in!

[bizarrojoe]

Mar 6, 2013 8:58:50 GMT -5 Lord Inar said:

I think a quick benchmark is that since they're meant for 4 characters you could simply increase the encounters by 50%. You could do this either by increasing numbers of individual monsters (say wolves) or increasing ST of Big Bads. Unless the Big Bad monster gets an attack on each character every turn, though, just increasing ST by 50% won't be enough. When fighting Big Bads with a large party, I'd add a few "henchman" monsters to keep them busy. There's always some orcs/zombies/robots/cultists lying around to toss in!

Those are good ideas, thanks. What threw me off about ROC was that the rules allow a maximum of 6 characters in a party, so I assumed that the encounters would already be adjusted. While that may be true for the end-game encounters (we're not there yet!), the journey to the end doesn't seem as tense as I'd like it to be vs a party of 6.

[Deleted]

Mar 5, 2013 22:40:53 GMT -5 bizarrojoe said:

I've been hosting ROC with some friends over the past couple of weeks, and I have a some questions:

1. What are the stats for the minotaur? There is no mention of them in the book; I made some up on the fly but I'm sure that there are official stats somewhere. Sadly, the party of 6 in my game turned my minotaur into mince meat...

2. What's the point of the purchasable items that don't have any tactical use? For example, steel-toed boots, fancy scarves, etc. They don't offer any magical, armor, skill, or other benefits, but still cost a lot of silver. Are they just flavor text, or is this something that I as a GM should fill in?

1. Bret (or anyone that might have a copy of ROC that actually has the minotaur's stats): if it helps determine the stats of the Minotaur, he is in #098 (at least one of them is).

2. i wondered the same thing. the only thing i've found so far is that there is an option to try and swindle the Rock Troll into taking one of your items as equal value to the silver toll he tries to extract from you.

[Deleted]

extrapolating from the stats of Summoned Wolf, Bear, and Gargoyle, here's the 'Ewookie Minotaur' LOL

Minotaur: ST25 DX12 IQ8; Battle Axe 3D6

What did the 'BizzaroJoe Minotaur' look like?

[bizarrojoe]

Mar 6, 2013 20:54:35 GMT -5 @ewookie said:

extrapolating from the stats of Summoned Wolf, Bear, and Gargoyle, here's the 'Ewookie Minotaur' LOL

Minotaur: ST25 DX12 IQ8; Battle Axe 3D6

What did the 'BizzaroJoe Minotaur' look like?

It was pretty close to what you guessed:

Minotaur: ST40 DX16 IQ10; Battleaxe 3D6

Even at those stats, the party of 6 decimated him. But, I partly blame my allowance for the characters to double-move. They surrounded the minotaur incredibly fast and just pounded into him from all sides. He only got one good swipe of his axe, and it wasn't enough to make the encounter tense. It was a good lesson learned for me.

[mister frau blucher]

Joe,

Thanks for pointing out the loss of the Minotaur stats. My stats were ST40 DX12 IQ10, battleaxe.

Odd items - added mostly for flavor and verisimilitude, something to add to the sense of place as you explore. No real game effects, other than to brag to an NPC, "I found this strange glove in the depths of Cygnosa..."

Party size and ease of play: the encounters were guaged so that they gradually chip away at your party, in relation to the restricted nature/areas for resting. None of the encounters were really intended to be even strength on even strength, as the party would not last for too many of those, particularly if they can't rest after every fight.

Most of the outside of the mountain is designed for 5 characters, since you can pick up the Luprian at Thunder Keep, where most of the inside of Cygnosa is geared for a party of six, as you can pick up an orc from the Axefeast Tribe, and others at the Trading Post on the second level.

I would think your double move option would defintely give six the advantage in almost all of those combats, as it also decreases the effectiveness of missile weapons (ie, characters closea lot faster than normal, so they do not take as much archery fire). That could be influencing things greatly.

6 vs 8 hours - when the adventure was designed, we decided to go with 1/4 day increments rather than 1/3 day. When you see 6 hours or longer referenced, that is more about 6, 12, 18, or 24 hours, rather 6, 7, 8, 10, etc. hours.

Thanks for the questions, and thanks to everyone else for stepping up to give their thoughts.

Bret

[bizarrojoe]

6 vs 8 hours - when the adventure was designed, we decided to go with 1/4 day increments rather than 1/3 day. When you see 6 hours or longer referenced, that is more about 6, 12, 18, or 24 hours, rather 6, 7, 8, 10, etc. hours

But what's the point of a party resting for 6 hours? Is that what would be considered enough uninterrupted sleep to restore fatigue? And if so, why would they want to rest longer? For a chance to restore STR?

[Deleted]

Mar 8, 2013 19:19:01 GMT -5 bizarrojoe said:

6 vs 8 hours - when the adventure was designed, we decided to go with 1/4 day increments rather than 1/3 day. When you see 6 hours or longer referenced, that is more about 6, 12, 18, or 24 hours, rather 6, 7, 8, 10, etc. hours

But what's the point of a party resting for 6 hours? Is that what would be considered enough uninterrupted sleep to restore fatigue? And if so, why would they want to rest longer? For a chance to restore STR?

Fat recovers almost every numbered paragraph. 'a character recovers one fatigue point after each encounter' p.3 of rules...encounter is any numbered paragraph that describes a location. Bret may pat me on the head here because i used to argue about this rest will recover Fat, if needed.

it's not in the rules, but i gather most people allow recovery of 1 ST per hour of sleep. what is in the rules (of each particular adventure) is Weariness and Hunger. if you go more than 24 hours without sleep, you suffer 3 persistent fatigue points until you do sleep. p.9 of ROC

back to the recovery of ST during sleep, i prefer my patented 3/ST per hour of sleep to recover 1 ST per hour sleep
(but a barely audible tune plays in the background when i do this...judas priest - breaking the law)

[bizarrojoe]

I'm cool with coming up with a houserule for recovering ST during sleep. I've been playing with rules regarding sleep anyway. Here's something I may try tomorrow with my group:

If the party finds itself in a designated place of rest, then they follow the rules for rest stated in the associated paragraph. Unless there is a specified time limit, the period of rest is assumed to be 6 hours. During that time, each character can roll 3/ST every hour to regain 1 ST.

(A concern I have is for places like the goblin refuge in ROC. I don't want the party running back there to rest for a week whenever they have a bad encounter. The paragraph says the party can come back whenever they want, but I have to draw the line somewhere.)

If the party is somewhere foreign or hostile and wants to rest, they can try and get 6 hours of sleep. During that time, each character rolls D6. If the result comes up 6, then they get no rest all night. Everyone else rolls 4/ST every hour to regain 1 ST. No matter how much ST is regained, all FT is reset. Afterwards, the GM rolls a D6. If the result is a 5 or 6, then there is a "nuisance encounter" featuring slimes, scorpions, rats, snakes, or spiders. If one of the party members didn't sleep, then there is no surprise round for the monsters that snuck up on the party while they rested. The party gets an XP point for surviving the encounter.

[Deleted]

that sounds pretty good to me. as for spending luxurious, week-long vacations for rest and relaxation, i would put every 'minion' type foe back on the table when they reach those locations again. killed all the orcs here last week? sorry. they're back. killed all these wolves last week? sorry, they're back. killed these bandits last week? sorry, new bandits have moved in. loner, solitary type 'monsters' i would not put back. these 'restocked' encounters would provide NO XP or treasure beyond the weapons used and the coins carried by the foes. special stuff would be removed.

food, wolves, animals? restock/adjust price daily. medkits, common equipment (consumables), orcs, and bandits? every other day. common equipment (non-consumable)? weekly. reset prices to original values at the end of each week. special equipment? only if you feel moved with pity. special 'monsters'? only if you feel moved with malice

symmetry is beautiful!

(when i say consumables, i mean stuff like regular arrows etc. ink and toner are printer consumables equivalent to arrows, torches, etc. printers themselves are equivalent to weapons and armor.)

[mister frau blucher]

Mar 8, 2013 19:19:01 GMT -5 bizarrojoe said:

6 vs 8 hours - when the adventure was designed, we decided to go with 1/4 day increments rather than 1/3 day. When you see 6 hours or longer referenced, that is more about 6, 12, 18, or 24 hours, rather 6, 7, 8, 10, etc. hours

But what's the point of a party resting for 6 hours? Is that what would be considered enough uninterrupted sleep to restore fatigue? And if so, why would they want to rest longer? For a chance to restore STR?

Yeah, six hours of sleep allows you to recover lost Fatigue, and your staff to recharge.

Resting more allows you to improve/aquire skills, as mentioned in the rules of the adventure at the beginning, should you rest long enough.

I don't allow 1ST recovery per hour, I actually follow the LAW rules that state if you rest for one week, all lost ST is recovered.

But I do allow someone who rests for one full day in blankets and a tent to recover 1 lost ST. That was in the rules originally for ROC, but got cut because it was so big as a document.

But here is the other reason to rest for two six hour periods. A wizard will be rested after six hours, so he can then Heal Wounds until his ST and his staff is exhausted - this might heal all damage a party has taken. He then rests another 6 hours, and the party sets off refreshed.

A bit gamey, and that is why there are limited places to rest, and a chance of wandering monsters when you rest in certain locations.

[Deleted]

ah! thanks for straightening me out, bret ;D

can't believe i never thought of doing that with my wizards!

[bizarrojoe]

I don't allow 1ST recovery per hour, I actually follow the LAW rules that state if you rest for one week, all lost ST is recovered.

The 1ST recovery kinda worked in the game I played last night, but I think there needs to be a better approach. With a party of 5 characters, rolling for a full night's rest turned out to be too tedious.

The one week recovery brought up an area of concern for me last night as well. At one point in the adventure, the party decided to spend half a day trekking back to Thunder Keep. Once they were there, they spent a week recovering. What worried me was the possibility that this would happen over and over again; without a time limit to get to the Ochre Mask in ROC, there was nothing stopping multiple vacations. I think I may implement the following rule to counter this:

Each time the party encounters a safe haven where they are permitted to rest as long as they want, they may stay there for a full week to recover and train, but only once. So in ROC, there's Thunder Keep, the goblin sanctuary, and the dwargg inns (as far as we've played); the caprian stronghold wouldn't count because you're forced to sleep in tents in the courtyard. Furthermore, when a party chooses to rest at an inn that long, any hired hands automatically leave their employ.

[Deleted]

maybe one 3/ST check per 6hrs of sleep to regain 1 ST per 6hrs of sleep?

...losing hired hands...won't they be able to just hire a new hand? aren't hired hands paid daily?

something i thought about during my drive to the city the other day...create encounters in the safe havens...bump into a soldier/inhabitant, hostilities arise, all the soldiers/inhabitants tell you to get out and don't come back (if players are vacationing too much). their exile can be rescinded later by making-up another story. you can do fake/hidden rolls for the ad-libbing.