Dragon Battle
Posted by: servus_dei <servus_dei@...>
comments on this and some being other things that I've wanted to ask dealing
with dragons, but never got around to.
On the passage:
It certainly makes dragon battle seem more interesting with the description
and such. However, the numerical descriptions of pride damage screws a
little bit with the fantasy immersion. I might edit it so that, after each
section or round of battle, the number crunching and game-mechanics
explanation is presented. Instead of saying "The dragon winces again it
takes the five points of Pride
Factor damage from this WordRune", one might write, "The dragon winces again
as it feels the WordRune wound its pride. [The WordRune deals five points
of damage to the dragon's pride factor.]" Of course, that's a very rough
idea, but I think I've made my point.
Also, I noticed that the battle seems to be split into two distinctive
parts-- spiritual first, and then physical, once the dragon decides to kill
the LRs. Will this be reflected in the actual game mechanics? It's
something that I've kinda been planning on doing in my own game-- get all
the hard thinking out of the way first (weakening the party, if all goes
well for the dragon), and then give the players non-stop, overt excitement.
I suppose that this would depend on the AM's wishes, however.
Other questions:
I've been wondering if a die roll might be added to both sides when the
dragon uses its fire breath. If the dragon rolls one die and adds it to its
"Fire Factor" (I apologize but I can't remember the actual game term) and
the LRs roll a SINGLE die to add to their combined SF, it would make it a
little more random. One of the things that always irked me about the dragon
battles is that if you are fighting a dragon and your party is well
organized, you will always win or lose on a fire-breathing round by the same
amount. Now, I know it's not likely that a dragon would use fire breath
more than two or maybe three times in a battle, but adding the roll of a
single die brings more excitement and suspense than a mechanics-oriented
gamer, like myself, doing the number crunching before the battle and
realizing that as long as the team sticks together, the dragon's firebreath
is basically a wasted turn on its part. I think that the die rolls are
especially important once you get a large RaidTeam together-- maybe a very
powerful dragon would roll 2SSt (or 3!)instead of one. This would even out
the discrepancy between an Elder dragon and, say, a RaidTeam of 6 people
with an average SF of 6. Of course, the Team would also get a single die to
roll, perhaps saving the skins of a small, fledgling team (or,
alternatively, burning them to a crisp.)
On the other hand....
Perhaps the AMM could instruct the AM that the dragon is most effective in
using its fire breath when the LRs are divided (so that only 1 or 2 could
defend against the fire when he breathes it.) This could lead to some
interesting tactical maneuvers, with the dragon trying to split the RaidTeam
in order to incinerate them one at a time, and the RaidTeam trying to stick
together. After all, if an SF 6 LR gets flamed by a Mature Firedrake, he
probably won't be much more than charcoal briquettes once the dragon closes
his mouth. Perhaps give dragons another move, where they can fly into the
air (taking one turn), move near the team (may take between 0 and infinite
turns, depending on distance *grin*), and drop onto the ground, shaking it
and causing anyone who fails an AG roll at a certain difficulty level to fly
away from the dragon for a certain number of spaces? Sure, this may mean
the dragon is surrounded, but hey, it'll be a lot easier to catch just one
or two LRs with the fireballs, and it eliminates the necessity of a die
roll. But I think I'm rambling now... oh well. This is a forum, isn't it?
Just some random thoughts.
B'shem Yahushua Adonai,
David Cole
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