Pre-Stream Session 6: Combat (Patreon)

All of our pre-stream sessions have a theme that's aimed to prepare us for live streaming. None of us have presented an Actual Play before, so focussed practice is a good thing.

Today we tried out combat - in particular, the new version of combat that we're going to use during the stream. So, I hear you cry, what are the primary differences between our combat and WFRP4 combat? Well...

1) Advantage is entirely rewritten and simplified. You either have it or not, and if you do, you gain +20 to all active Tests. I.e.: the Difficulty moves from baseline Challenging to baseline Average, just like Difficulty outside combat.

2) New Critical tables ranging from +1 to +15 Criticals, which fans of WFRP1 and 2 will understand a little better than fans of WFRP4. Lots to unpack with these, but in short: a selection of new tables for Bladed, Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Fire Damage (the last is essential as we have a Bright Magister and a Sigmarite with a propensity for having a fiery hammer). All of these will be released on this blog when I'm happy with them.

3) Lastly, our combat has more tactical options with new Actions, Moves, and combined Actions+Moves, as well as a new Reaction or two. These are still work in progress, but are simple and seem to fit very well with how we play. Unlike the Critical Tables, these are somewhat less developed, but are firming up well. I'll likely be happy with them in a couple of weeks or so. They include stuff like Aiming, Defending, Barging, Creeping, Delaying, and so on.

So, we were trying out all the new rules so we could be used to them. First we handled a 3-on-3 combat with the PCs and a henchman, then the PCs handled a 'real' in-time combat as they faced off an ambush from 6 starving Goblins and possibly worse in the surrounding forests.

The first combat was hilarious. One character literally exploded! The second combat was far shorter, with the Goblins seen off in short order - two died, the remaining four fled into the woods, only to be eaten by something worse.

And, very pleasingly, it all went smoothly. Taking each of the new rules in order...

1) Advantage just worked. It was intuative and useful, and also combined very well with non-martial characters. For example, our Noble used Leadership to give our Rat Catcher the Advantage (so, a +20 bonus), which she then used to crush our Counsellor's head. Good times, and it helped ensure every character was involved and had somethijng to do.

2) The Critical tables need some fine tuning, so I'll do that next week. But, as a concept, they were pretty much flawless. Very pleased with these. All I need to do is diversify them a little and write up some more rules for Burns and other horrible injuries.

3) The new tactical options also just worked. Little to say here beyond that I'm happy with them, and will add a few more before calling it a day and posting them all here for you to see.

Next week, for session 7, we're going to have another Combat session to refine what we have. This time it's going to be a Battle Royal. Using a grid! The winning PC will score a bonus 50XP.

That'll be fun.

Until next time!

Andy Law
30th July, 2022