Second playtest of "Adventure Path"

In my first playtest my test got wasted in a couple of encounters. So I spent some time thinking about how I played and wondering if I did anything wrong. The result of this pondering is the realisation that I didn't really use the Melee Defence skill to its optimum. So in the following play through, I made a point of using it when I could. I also took another four classes of character with different skills, and it went much better, as you'll see...

My characters:

• Bowman, HP 11, Missile Fire +1, Ambush +1
• Draygon, HP 15, Melee Defence +1, Fireball +1
• Toadun, HP 9, Spot Hidden +1, Tracking +1
• Nephellin, HP 6, Darts +1, Charm +1

Move 1, Moving into the +0 Zone

Toadun makes tracking roll to get a peak at the Helmet location to see what's there, but he fails

We move into the Helmet location and reveal the encounter to be 2 Orcs

• Orc, Melee Attack +1, Damage Bonus +2

Bowman Attempts an Ambush, but fails.

Round ~1~

• Nelphellin Melee Attacks Orc1 doing 3HP
• Orc2 Melee Attacks Draygon doing 9HP
• Draygon Melee Defence blocks 5HP of damage
• Bowman Missile Attacks Orc2 killing it
• Toadun Melee Attacks Orc1 for 2 damage
• Orc1 Melee Defence blocks incoming damage

Round ~2~

• Bowman Missile Attacks Orc1 Killing it.

4 treasure have been earned!

Move 2, Moving into the +1 Zone

Encounter a Werewolf, HP 22, Melee Attack +1, Melee Defence +1, Damage Bonus 1D4.

Bowman attempts Ambush, fails.

Round ~1~

• Bowman Missile Fire for 3HP damage
• Toadun Melee Attacks for 1HP damage
• Werewolf attacks nephellin 8HP damage (kill?)
• Draygon Melee Attacks for 6HP damage
• Nephellin Melee Defence for 3 reduces damage to 5HP

Round ~2~

• Draygon Melee Attacks for 2HP damage
• Toadun Melee Attacks for 1HP damage
• Nephellin Melee Attacks for 4HP damage
• Bowman Missile fires for 7HP damage killing werewolf

Earned 6 Treasure (10 total)

Move 3, +2 band 

Encounter Village, 

Draygon visits the Blacksmith and spends all the party Treasure to gain a +1 Sword (Melee Attack bonus)

Move 4, +3 band, to a "?" space 

Roll 1D6 to determine encounter category, result =Helmet Category

Constrictor, HP 12, Melee Attack +2, Damage Bonus +1

Round ~1~

• Nephellin melee attacks 5HP damage
• Bowman Missile Fires for 5HP damage
• Constrictor Melee Attacks Draygon for 6HP damage
• Draygon Melee Defence 7HP (so no damage)
• Toadun Melee Attacks 5HP damage killing constrictor

No Treasure :(

Move 5, +4 band 

Toadun makes a Tracking attempt on the Helmet encounter success "There be spiders ahead". Toadun suggests we go to the Cave encounter instead

Iron Eater HP 12, Melee Attack +3, Melee Defence +1, Damage Bonus +1

Round ~1~

• Draygon Melee Attacks 8HP Damage
• Toadun Melee Attacks 2HP Damage
• Bowman Missile Attacks 6HP Damage
• Nephellin Melee Attacks 3HP Damage
• Iron Eater Melee Defence, still dies.
• The Iron Eater destroyed Draygon's sword :(

Move 6, +5 band, to a "?" space  

Roll 1D6 to determine encounter category, Helmet Attack

OwlBear,HP 18, Initiative +2, Melee Attack +3, Melee Defence +2,  Damage Bonus 1D6

Bowman Attempts an Ambush, Success.

Round ~0 (Ambush)~

• Bowman Missile Fire does 3HP Damage
• Draygon Melee Attack does 6HP
• Toadun Melee Attack does 3HP
• Nephellin Melee Attack does 5HP Damage 

Round ~1~

• Toadun Melee Attack does 3 Hit Points
• Dragon Melee Attack does 5 Hit Points
• The Owlbear will not be able to fend off both attacks, so the Owlbear is killed

10 Treasure!

Move 7, +6 band 

Campfire, 

• Bowman takes the Stash Action saving 5 Treaure
• Draygon and Nephellin take the Rest option and heal 2HP

Move 8, +7 band, The Lair 

Nightmare HP14, Melee Attack +2, Melee Defence +1, Damage bonus 1D6

5 x DarkElves HP 8, Melee Attack +4, Melee Defence +2

Bowman attempts Ambush, fails

Round ~1~

• Toadun Melee Attacks DE1 doing 1HP damage
• Nephellin casts Darts, fails
• DE4 melee attacks Toadun doing 7HP damage
• Bowman Missile at DE4 doing 7HP damage
• DE1 melee attacks Toadun doing 7HP killing him
• DE2 melee attacks Bowman doing 6HP 
• Draygon Melee attacks DE4 doing 3HP damage killing
• DE5 Melee  attacks Draygon doing 7HP damage
• Nephellin Melee attacks DE1 doing 3HP damage
• Nightmare Melee attacks Nephellin doing 5HP damage

Round ~2~

• DE1 Melee attacks Bowman doing 6HP
• Nightmare Melee attacks Draygon doing 3HP
• Draygon melee attacks DE1 doing 2HP
• DE3 Melee attacks Nephellin doing 6HP
• DE5 Melee attacks Nephellin doing 10HP killing
• DE2 Attacks Draygon doing 6HP killing
• Bowman does Melee defence stopping 4HP (2hp damage)

Round ~3~

Concede, because 4 melee attacks on last character that he could not fend off

Summary: Killed by the End Boss' but did manager to stash 5 treasure for use in next run. Got much further in this run than the last. I put this down to some lucky rolls, but mostly down to some very good skills. Melee Defence was critical, and Ambush proved very powerful. Spells at first level seem pretty low power which is appropriate. I'm happy with how it went.

Playtesting "Adventure Path"

I've spent the last few weeks writing up a new solo RPG which takes inspiration from "Four Against Darkness" and the digital card game "Slay the Spire". With the first draft of the rules complete it was time to do my first playtest. The following are my notes from the far too short game.

My characters

• Soldier Hp(14) Melee Attack +1 Melee Defence +1
• Bandit Hp(10)  Melee Attack +1 Initiative +1
• Elementalist Hp(8)  Danger Sense +1 Earth Shield +1
• Acrobat Hp(9)  Dexterity +1 Initiative +1

So with my party ready to go, I started my first move up the map. I had a choice of overland or underground encounter, I opted for the slightly easier overland encounter.

Move 1 -----

Move to Helmet Encounter, Difficulty mod +0

Encounter (4) Constrictor, attacks character with most hit points

• HP (12) Melee Attack+2 Damage Bonus +1, no treasure

I rolled initiative for characters and monster.  Monster rolled a 1.

Acrobat melee attack +0 > 4, Constrictor reduced HP to 8

Soldier melee attack +1 > 3, Constrictor reduced HP to 5

Bandit Melee attach +1 > 6, Constrictor reduced to 0 HP

A win for my heroes, but alas the constrictor has no treasure.

Move 2 -----

Move to Helmet Encounter, Difficulty mod +1

Encounter (10+1) Wererats # App (1d4+1) 5 ,Melee Attack +2, Melee Defence +1 8HP each.

~Round 1~

WR1 Hits Soldier doing 4HP damage

WR4 Hits Bandit doing 3HP damage

Acrobat hit WR1 doing 1HP damage

WR5 Hits Elementalist doing 6HP damage

Soldier Hits WR1 doing 4HP damage 

WR3 its Acrobat doing 8HP damage

Bandit Hits WR1 doing 4HP damage

Elementalist Hits WR2 doing 6HP damage

WR2 Hits attacks soldier doing 5HP

~Round 2~

Soldier Hits WR2 doing 5HP damage

Elementalist casts "Earth Shield"

WR4 Hits Bandit Doing 1HP of Damage

Bandit Hits WR3 doing 4HP damage

Acrobat Hits WR3 doing 5HP damage

WR5 Hits Bandit doing 1HP damage

~Round 3~

Bandit attacks WR4 doing 5HP damage

Acrobat attacks WR4 doing 1HP damage

WR4 attacks Acrobat killing him

WR5 attacks Elementalist killing him

Soldier attacks WR4 doing 2HP damage

~Round 4~

Soldier attacks WR5 doing 3HP damage

Bandit attacks WR4 doing doing 3HP damage

WR5 attacks soldier killing him

~Round 5~

WR5 attacks Bandit killing him.

... and so ended my party of adventurers. I expect the game to be swingy because it does use random die rolls to determine encounters. I even think it was back luck to roll 10+1 on the second encounter (were rats) and then to roll the maximum number of enemies 1D4+1 (5). My first inclination is to "harden" the characters, perhaps by giving them armour/shield to act as damage reduction. However I'm not sure if one single play test attempt is a good place to make changes. After all, solo games have to have extreme challenge.

Edit, I'm definitely going to make another playtest before changing anything.