What I found interesting about Dubzaron during my absence is they played MORE than usual. They started doing extra sessions on the weekends and such. Was it a case of “when the cat’s away…”?
But at some point this extra interest did die down. You can see the session report below where only 3 players showed up for a session. For a campaign which frequently has 6+ PCs this was very odd indeed.
Was it a case of the players not being into or not seeing their role in an army focused session? DM Brigadine recently had that problem come up in his Oberholt campaign he runs face to face wherein the PCs who didn’t control the army were bored, disinterested, disengaged, and otherwise a letdown.
This session was played around the time that the BROSR was super high on army stuff. With our bros realizing and crowing that 1e fighters should be tooling around with 10 merc soldiers per their fighter level. Yet Dubzaron has found since that d&d players on the whole aren’t super into army stuff; including supplying them and strategy, things like that. Why?
It’s unclear but for dubzaron I’ve wondered if the ACKS BR system, while useful, might not be very fun. Would scaling up be better? Unclear since DM Brig ran ACKS with scaling up sometime after this session and had mixed results.
We’ve discussed that it might be more of an issue of only the most dedicated downtime players having a stake in the army stuff; since it was they who built the army in downtime.
Edelweiss, for his part, made some comment after seeing the risk/reward calculus of this session, stating he’d never delve a dungeon again. “Lair smashing” was simply too easy, safe and valuable.
This can’t be right. I can’t imagine Macris designing a game system where you essentially have an automatic win once you’ve acquired an army of 240 units or more. Are we missing something? Some rule(s) which would make the calculus more interesting; less ez mode or at least less profitable? I welcome comments or thoughts about this.
I think at the least the BROSR should ask more of its would be army commanders than just “grind for cash and prizes”. They should be expected to worldbuild. To make hooks and concepts with their armies which add to the campaign. While this is a game, it’s also a social endeavor that requires a bit more than “I get some cash, I get more powerful”.
I’ll have more thoughts on this in upcoming session reports. Until then, enjoy this session report from DM Brig.
-BDubs 8/22/23
Session 102: 3/15/23: TF is an Ides anyway?
Time: 3/15-3/20, rest 3/21, active 3/22
Pcs: Brolly, Vhailor, Edelweiss
Henches: Azalea, Davian, Gilford, Lily
Mercs:
87 Horse Archers
90 Light Infantry
48 Slinger
30 Bowmen
24 Longbowmen
16 Light Cav - 8 Killed
15 med cav
11 Hvy cav
9 Cataphract
With a lighter than usual roster and no real plan, the Players loaded up on Edelweiss's army and decided to help her travel to Azen Radokh and hunt for lairs. Discussion during the week was more about Muppetlantis, but they're terrified of the place. Or maybe Edelweiss is just terrified of everything. At any rate, off to clear some lairs.
They traveled easily past Siadanos and into the hills east of Azen Radokh where they started tooling around for lairs. They found evidence of Rocs which they chose not to interact with since the giant birds were known to be Lawful. Then Brolly found some giant tracks and followed them to a cave in the hills.
Using Invisibility from Edelweiss, Vhailor crept up and discovered six hill giants eating dinner deep in the cave. They hatched a plan to try to lure them out and ambush them with the army. Hill giants are r1tarded and the dice abided, so when Vhailor made some racket and ran, the giants were hot on his heels.
They were quickly murdered by the army due to not realizing there was an army since it was hiding to either side of the cave mouth. Pretty easy score for the boys.
Brolly and some hirelings continued to search for lairs and try to determine if they'd found *all* of the lairs for the hex. They discovered a chimera lair next, high up on a ridge where the army couldn't really get to it. Edelweiss summoned his own chimera and cast growth on it, thus the Swolmera was born.
It roared into the skies like a beast of mythical terror, but it must have been too unfamiliar with its new form to function well, as the native chimera shot it down. The creatures, realizing they were outclassed, swooped down and grabbed easily toted valuables from their nest and skeedaddled.
The explorers found a path up to loot what was left in the nest, some gold and a magical suit of leather armor. Again, easy score, but not as much as coulda been gotten had Swolmera brought the thunder.
The next day, the party tracked a huge group of beastmen to a fortified palisade area guarding a valley. Some recon revealed orcs and giants of unknown number. Brolly scratched out a rough map of the camp and Edelweiss chose to avoid it.
Still unsure about number of lairs, they continued to search. A small group of Frost Giants surprised the party at spitting distance but had a really high reaction check. They demanded to know the group's purpose in the hills and repeated that "dwarves are shit" anytime dwarves were mentioned. Their leader had a belt of dwarf scalps. The giants demanded that the army just leave. Edelweiss was happy to oblige.
Fortunately their cartographer learned that there were no more lairs in this hex and the party could move on to the next, so they did. The recon group was surprised by some skittering maws and suffered the only casualties of the night before the army was able to defeat them.
The Cartographer hit his roll early in this hex, letting the boys know that there were four lairs for sure here. They sniffed out the first one before dark, some Pegasus that again they chose to leave alone due to their Lawful nature. Such noble adventurers.
While they camped there was a raid on their supply line by some bandits. I ruled that whoever was on watch had to roll the SA for it, and the good guys won so the bandits were unsuccessful. Losing supply to your army is big bad so whew.
Next day they found a grizzly lair "they don't have loot" so they dodged it. They found a stirge lair that they just obliterated because Stirges suck. Got a small score off of them. Then they found more beastmen.
Brolly tracked them to their Ice Castle at the foot of a massive, unusually icy mountain. There was a company of the big furry goblinoids manning the parapets. Theories of white dragons and frost giants and I forget what else were thrown around, but the ever-cautious Edelweiss weren't about no frontal assault so the party opted to take their wins and head on towards Azen Radokh to end the session.
Session 102: 3/15/23: TF is an Ides anyway?
Time: 3/15-3/20, rest 3/21, active 3/22
Pcs: Brolly, Vhailor, Edelweiss
Henches: Azalea, Davian, Gilford, Lily
Mercs:
87 Horse Archers
90 Light Infantry
48 Slinger
30 Bowmen
24 Longbowmen
16 Light Cav - 8 Killed
15 med cav
11 Hvy cav
9 Cataphract
With a lighter than usual roster and no real plan, the Players loaded up on Edelweiss's army and decided to help her travel to Azen Radokh and hunt for lairs. Discussion during the week was more about Muppetlantis, but they're terrified of the place. Or maybe Edelweiss is just terrified of everything. At any rate, off to clear some lairs.
They traveled easily past Siadanos and into the hills east of Azen Radokh where they started tooling around for lairs. They found evidence of Rocs which they chose not to interact with since the giant birds were known to be Lawful. Then Brolly found some giant tracks and followed them to a cave in the hills.
Using Invisibility from Edelweiss, Vhailor crept up and discovered six hill giants eating dinner deep in the cave. They hatched a plan to try to lure them out and ambush them with the army. Hill giants are r1tarded and the dice abided, so when Vhailor made some racket and ran, the giants were hot on his heels.
They were quickly murdered by the army due to not realizing there was an army since it was hiding to either side of the cave mouth. Pretty easy score for the boys.
Brolly and some hirelings continued to search for lairs and try to determine if they'd found *all* of the lairs for the hex. They discovered a chimera lair next, high up on a ridge where the army couldn't really get to it. Edelweiss summoned his own chimera and cast growth on it, thus the Swolmera was born.
It roared into the skies like a beast of mythical terror, but it must have been too unfamiliar with its new form to function well, as the native chimera shot it down. The creatures, realizing they were outclassed, swooped down and grabbed easily toted valuables from their nest and skeedaddled.
The explorers found a path up to loot what was left in the nest, some gold and a magical suit of leather armor. Again, easy score, but not as much as coulda been gotten had Swolmera brought the thunder.
The next day, the party tracked a huge group of beastmen to a fortified palisade area guarding a valley. Some recon revealed orcs and giants of unknown number. Brolly scratched out a rough map of the camp and Edelweiss chose to avoid it.
Still unsure about number of lairs, they continued to search. A small group of Frost Giants surprised the party at spitting distance but had a really high reaction check. They demanded to know the group's purpose in the hills and repeated that "dwarves are shit" anytime dwarves were mentioned. Their leader had a belt of dwarf scalps. The giants demanded that the army just leave. Edelweiss was happy to oblige.
Fortunately their cartographer learned that there were no more lairs in this hex and the party could move on to the next, so they did. The recon group was surprised by some skittering maws and suffered the only casualties of the night before the army was able to defeat them.
The Cartographer hit his roll early in this hex, letting the boys know that there were four lairs for sure here. They sniffed out the first one before dark, some Pegasus that again they chose to leave alone due to their Lawful nature. Such noble adventurers.
While they camped there was a raid on their supply line by some bandits. I ruled that whoever was on watch had to roll the SA for it, and the good guys won so the bandits were unsuccessful. Losing supply to your army is big bad so whew.
Next day they found a grizzly lair "they don't have loot" so they dodged it. They found a stirge lair that they just obliterated because Stirges suck. Got a small score off of them. Then they found more beastmen.
Brolly tracked them to their Ice Castle at the foot of a massive, unusually icy mountain. There was a company of the big furry goblinoids manning the parapets. Theories of white dragons and frost giants and I forget what else were thrown around, but the ever-cautious Edelweiss weren't about no frontal assault so the party opted to take their wins and head on towards Azen Radokh to end the session.
Grades: Edelweiss: Hard to grade a mage in these conditions, leading an army. Played cautious, used spells when it made sense. E
Vhailor: Got involved where able, but first level dudes in army fights are fodder. Used the opportunities available. E Brolly: Explored when he could, kept his head down otherwise. Did Explorer things. E.
Musings: Frost Giants shoulda demanded tribute. Even if the army had them in BR, they had the party at a disadvantage with encounter distance. Missed opportunity for the bad guys there, bad DM play. Otherwise solid session. My groups in Oberholt do a bit of lair hunting so I was looking to run a dungeon just for a personal change of pace, but it's not my call as DM to dictate the session. Players seemed to have a good time and made some scores. Also dropped some interesting bads on the map. That Ice Castle is a thing. Dubzaron House Rules for XP are interesting. The low levels really aren't going to get much xp here, as the General of the army dictates splits, but may come out with some magic items or something. Who knows, they'll figure it out. General racked up in XP, but not a ton of GP to go around. Good session, looking forward to the next. Vhailor and Brolly each get 22xp and 22gp as their splits from the "troop" spoils. Plus whatever Edelweiss splits with them for gold. They are not eligible for xp gained in that way since they do not qualify for Lieutenants at this scale per House Rule.
Musings: Frost Giants shoulda demanded tribute. Even if the army had them in BR, they had the party at a disadvantage with encounter distance. Missed opportunity for the bad guys there, bad DM play. Otherwise solid session. My groups in Oberholt do a bit of lair hunting so I was looking to run a dungeon just for a personal change of pace, but it's not my call as DM to dictate the session. Players seemed to have a good time and made some scores. Also dropped some interesting bads on the map. That Ice Castle is a thing. Dubzaron House Rules for XP are interesting. The low levels really aren't going to get much xp here, as the General of the army dictates splits, but may come out with some magic items or something. Who knows, they'll figure it out. General racked up in XP, but not a ton of GP to go around. Good session, looking forward to the next. Vhailor and Brolly each get 22xp and 22gp as their splits from the "troop" spoils. Plus whatever Edelweiss splits with them for gold. They are not eligible for xp gained in that way since they do not qualify for Lieutenants at this scale per House Rule.
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