MEGALOS ep. 1 - I Will Barry You!

[Dave (***Dave Hill)]

Into the Mists

Boarding a cloud raft to head into the fog.

Professor Magnus of “Light of the Past” has given us a job of clearing out a site that was found on a floating island – clear, and solidify the claim (and maybe find some interesting goodies).

Ship’s pilot – Gwin, whom we’ve sailed with before. Xeric knows her – in fact, knows her from home, and she’s probably helping us get jobs.

We have very little information. Just what they saw from the cloud raft. Looked pretty – old stone buildings, plant growth.

Xeric - Looks for a flying creature that has holes in its body as well, which makes a distinctive sound as they fly.

Carabas likes Gwin because she is a very competent sailor. Dislikes that she maintains a dry ship. Not only can I not bring any drink aboard, she even provides none.

Auoy - Ship is not luxurious, but sturdy. Handles decently when in trouble. But A watches the currents closely, nonetheless.

Seirus - The professor suggested we might find, in the ruins, some relic tools with specific wear on the right side. Seems highly unlikely we’ll find such tools because of the architecture.

The island is not large. None of the cluster are – erosion, in this case. Mostly taken up by one ruin with outcroppings of forest trees around it. Not particularly gloomy, just in decay.

Gwin takes a pass around it. And … there are about a dozen people, claim jumpers.

Claim Blame

Pull in closer – a man in a loud purple cloak, someone we know. Barry, the Ironhide – uses his Core to make his skin unbreakable.

Gwin lands. We disembark – Barry waves us off.
Claim beacon!
“I didn’t see one.”
4m tall Mekari stomps out: Blockhead.
Calls in a bunch of his workers, too.

(Initiative tracking)

Our Combat

Seirus invokes the Fairy King.
Auoy - Drain Soul -
Barry dashes forward, and uses a Wounding Punch on Auoy. Overcomes his Afraid.
Blockhead charges in. One arm is sparking dangerously – Runic Overcharge at Seirus and Xeric.
Xeric teleports over and zaps Blockhead.
Seirus dashes into the main battle, attacks multiple targets, then taunts Barry, Blockhead,
Carabas spawns some phantasms, .
Xeric takes down a bunch of Minions.

Barry swings and misses.
Blockhead Runic Overcharge. And misses.

Auto Attack
Auoy - Takes down last damage.
Xeric - Barry
Carabas - Barry
Seirus - Barry

Barry - Seirus
Blockhead - Seirus

Next round!

Xeric Carving Strikes Barry. Then Determinations him. Finisher!
Seirus Dancing Plague on Barry - misses. Heals self. Umbral Seal.

Barry batters fists on Seirus. Hits, plus pushes him back to the other Miners. Saves vs Wounded.
Blockhead charges Seirus, hits.
Miners attack Seirus.
Others move and attack Carabas, Auoy.

Carabas summons another phantasm, and triggers them all to attack Barry, plus his stored charges. Barry is down!
Auoy does the Liquefaction thang. Creepy!

Blockhead is Wounded. Runic Overcharge vs Xeric and Carabas … misses.

Round 3
Mist Miner dies.
Blockhead is wounded. And now injured. Tries to crush Auyo
Carabas steps in, Blade Dance, much damage.
Xeric steps in, takes Blockhead to 0. He explodes. Ow.

Aftermath

Miners run up and grab Barry and Blockhead’s head.
Xeric gives chase and corners them. Red glowing eyes from a cloud.
Force them (spend Grit) ==> 3 hits!
They give him Blockhead’s core. Aetheric core.
“And don’t come back!”

Give the core to Gwin. Track where he’s been? Take one of their ruins?

Auoy brings Seirus back from KO.
Rest! Healing! All is well!

Next Time!

Talk about Character Bonds
What Rest Action do you want to do during your short rest?

[Dave (***Dave Hill)]

@garrett mentioned in his Twitter thread about some folk unhappy with their builds, so I want to just outline a bit more my own thoughts. I’ll likely go into it more elsethread, but my main concerns now is I’m not sure my current mix of Cantrips/Sorcery give me good synergy.

So, e.g., I can spin up Phantasms pretty fast, but at the moment they don’t do anything (include move) after I cast them until I blow them up. I also have a pretty cool weapon attack power, but it doesn’t do anything with the Phantasms. The Psythe has a lot that’s Slick Solo Warrior, a lot that’s Phantasm-focused, and a few cross-overs; I get that more than I did.

I want to re-evaluate my initial set in a coherent fashion, to keep open options but also not get stuck in an either-or set of tactics (even if we get multiple actions per turn). With, of course, the realization that I’m still a 0th level character, so I’m not going to be as amazing as I want to be, right off the bat.

In short, I know 500% more about how combat works (albeit with another few thousand percent to grow from there), and what the different attributes of things mean, than I did when going through the character creator. I’d like to see that knowledge might inform better choices.

[insomn14 (Mike)]

I’m supportive of you making changes but, for what it’s worth, I thought Carabas’ “make some phantasms and then blow them up to stab my enemies, none of which allow for soak rolls (except Blade Dance)” was a fun setup. Sure, not always good against highly mobile enemies/fights, but nothing is going to be perfect/all moves are going to have their downsides.

With that said, look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[garrett (Bill Garrett)]

One other point that has nothing to do with builds but I hope is interesting: sometimes the best move isn’t one you make for yourself, but for a teammate.

Example: Carabas has a bunch of phantasms stacked in a zone. Seirus has the boss taunted, but they aren’t in that zone for whatever reason. At the top of the round, Seirus takes a fast action to dash to it, and renews the taunt. During the enemy actions, the boss follows. Carabas takes a slow action to drop the bomb. Outcome: we win and everyone goes out for coffee and cake.

D&D did this well in 4th edition but I felt very disappointed by team tactics in 5th. This game seems like it has a lot more opportunities for this. We will see how they are capitalized upon.

[Dave (***Dave Hill)]

@garrett

Carabas takes a slow action to drop the bomb.

I think there’s some great opportunities for good tactics (individually and collaboratively) with the Slow/Fast Turn mechanic (with Auto-Attacks at the end). This is a fine example, and I look forward to exploring more.

[insomn14 (Mike)]

@garrett

D&D did this well in 4th edition but I felt very disappointed by team tactics in 5th. This game seems like it has a lot more opportunities for this. We will see how they are capitalized upon.

Another point of note: Not to disparage Barry and the Miners (too much) but they were idiots when it came to their tactics. Barry takes the lead and draws heat, depends on his tough coer to live through it, and the rest of the miners and Blockhead just wail on whoever attacks Barry.

Future enemies, especially if you happen to run into some Imperials or smarter exploration team, may use much better and complex tactics like dedicated artillery/ranged attacks and blockers to protect them, disrupters who can debuff or pull Player Characters away from their team, and people who change the environment to their benefit (that Power Terrain thing you may have seen some of your powers). Don’t expect to run into Sun Tsu next game or anything (I would never do that you guys while you’re still getting your feet wet with a new system) but at a certain point the difficulty will raise not because the enemies are getting tougher, but because they are working together smarter.