So it took me a long time but I have this game out in front of people. I know it’s not done but it is playable. I know because I’ve played a bunch of it and I like it, and I can only hope I’ve translated my experience and intention to the page. That being said I already have a list of things I still need to add to the game.
- More adversaries
- The Group Action
- Magic items
I’m sure I’ll come across more in the coming days and weeks as I play more of this game with other folks who’ve never played it before, yay, but for now let’s delve into the Group Action in a Street of Avalon game.
I don’t think this has to be overly complicated. First you decide on what the TN is for the group action using the chart for difficulty.
Then you ask each person what they’re going to do to help out with this group action. Once you know what they’re attempting to be successful as a group, have each person roll, increasing their TN for any disadvantages that have appeared in the discussion by 1 or 2. If the total hits equal half the group, rounded up, then the group succeeds at what they’re trying to do. If the group fails to achieve that number then the GM gets to decide what their fate is, maybe it’s success with a cost, maybe it’s making the situation worse for themselves. I would strongly advise against the GM just blocking their attempt and making them try again, unless it’s about time, but I might use some kind of different mechanic for that.
Let’s add two more extras to this:
- A critical success counts as 2 hits.
- A critical failure subtracts 1 hit from the group’s total.
Let’s take a look at an example.
We have Bridget playing Agatha the Expert, Jerry playing Edrianna the Thief, and Mickey playing Crom the Liche Magic User.
They’re trying to sneak past a Shit Eater in the sewers and the walkway is a little slippery with sewage as this thing breaths and shuffles as it dreams causing the water to slush up on the walk way. I call for a group check at TN 14 and the tag slippery walkway is in play. Then I ask them what they’re doing to sneak past.
Jerry says Edrianna is just going to be as quiet as possible. I say Agility with stealth is up but Jerry asks since Edrianna is an expert in Acrobatics can she bypass the slippery walkway tag. I say that’s reasonable so Edrianna’s TN stays at 14.
Bridget says Agatha is going to use her alchemy kit to create some grip for her shoes that avoid the slippery walkway and also sneak past. I tell her it only costs one use of her alchemy kit and she’ll also ignore the tag and keep her TN at 14.
Mickey says he wants Crom to use earth manipulation to have the stones on the wall slid out so he can walk across them. I tell him sure but instead of a stealth check it’ll be an Intellect Arcane Studies check but the TN is going to be 16 instead of 14 because it’ll potentially make a lot of noise. Crom has a +4 Intellect and is trained in Arcane Studies for a +3 which means he’ll need a 9 or better on the dice. Fortunately his profession being a Liche gives him an extra die and he’s got some grit to spend which is much better than his odds to sneak by which are just a +1 from his Agility.
The three of them roll. Jerry gets a 7 on the die and has a +7 from his +4 Agility and +3 training in stealth. Agatha only has a +5 from her +2 Agility and +3 training and rolls a 6. She waits to see what Mickey gets before seeing if she wants to use her grit to roll another die, especially since she rolled a 1 and a 5 on the dice. Double 1’s mean critical failure. Mickey rolls a 3 and a 5 on his dice for an 8 giving him a 15 so he spends a grit to increase his 3 to a 4 and getting a 16 which gives him and the group two hits which is what they need to succeed and they sneak past the Shit Eater without waking it up.
Now lets say Mickey rolled a four for Crom and Bridget spent one of Agatha’s grit to roll another die and still got a 6 as her best two dice. Since the group only had one hit they fail and our GM decides that since Crom had the lowest roll, one of the rocks that slid out of the wall was already crumbling and Crom stepping on it caused to to break and Crom falls into the sewage water waking up the Shit Eater. From there our GM calls for initiative as we move into an objective based action scene.