StonesThree

Thanks Atgxtg.

I do have the GPC and intend to follow it along. I also picked up the Book of Uther recently but haven't read it yet.

I wasn't sure about the other supplements. I don't think my players are going to want to get into estate management too much. We only play for 3 hours a week and I want to focus the sessions on them roleplaying and doing cool stuff. So I was just going to stick to the rules in the core book. And none of us are wargamers so I'm still in two minds about the battle system. I've only glanced at it so far. 

Luckily one of my players has made an outdoorsman Knight. A ranger if you will. And he declared that the bear could not have been attacking people without cause. So now I am spinning a whole adventure of outlaws in the woods using dark magic to terrorise the poor little villagers... who are not as innocent as they appear. But it should give us time to learn the combat rules better, etc, before throwing the GPC at them. And gives me more time to read it and get ready.

On 3/16/2019 at 10:23 AM, Morien said:

It is very much OK to ask for advice in this Forum. It is practically what it is for!

1. Hunting on horseback: I think the assumption in the adventure is that they'd be on foot, but many other creatures are hunted on horseback, so it is not unrealistic as such.

2. Charging the bear on horseback: I would not allow this. Generally speaking, I don't allow lance charges in a forest, unless it is along an actual road or a clearing. A game path is twisty and windy enough, and not wide enough to pass the target, so you'd be crashing your horse into the bear. The horse doesn't want to do that! Finally, you'd only use the horse's damage stat for LANCE CHARGES. If you are poking with a spear from the saddle or swinging your sword, you are using your own damage stat. And yes, it should have been opposed rolling, only the winner does damage.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

My player didn't attack the bear from horseback with a lance or spear. He used the horse as a battering ram! (Much the same way a police officer might use his car to ram a crooks car off the road in high speed chase.)  I couldn't find any rules for this so just improvised. I suspect they will try this again against other opponents at some point. Running down men during battle I expect.

The next time I do a hunt I will spend a bit more time thinking about the woodland and the terrain. Try to describe the mud, low hanging branches, strange mists, random birds flying in their faces as they blunder their way through it. I imagine that woods in the 5th century were a lot more alive and mysterious then they are today.

On 3/16/2019 at 2:06 PM, Atgxtg said:

StonesThree, feel free to ask away-that's what a forum is for!

 

• Generally, lance charges on a hunt are rare and you only get them if the lead hunter  manages to get close enough for the "free" surprise attack per the Avoidance rules on pp. 210-211. If a knight can fight mounted or or foot has to do with the terrain, circumstances, and if he wishes to risk a fine horse. 
• You certainly can (and should apply modifiers to hunts for the terrain, that's just what the obstacle tables does! But remember that coursers are trained for this , and get a +5 to Horsemanship rolls in the forest.
• The hunting rules in KAP 5.2 are broken up over three section, which makes it a bit more difficult to use. 
• One of the best ways to get your head around the rules is to run some "sparring practice" between the Player characters. Have them use withheld blows (so actual damage is halved), and let them fight it out. You can even do a dry run without the players to familiarize yourself with how it works. Basically:
  • Both sides make an opposed roll.
  • Winner does damage to the loser.
  • Compare the full damage roll to the lower's SIZ to check for knockdown. If SIZ or greater than a DEX roll (foot) or Horsemanship roll (mounted) is required to stay up. If 2xSIZ then loser is knocked down automatically. Being knocked off a horse does 1d6 damage through armor.
  • Then take the damage rolled, halve it (because they are withholding blows and not trying to kill each other) and subtract the loser's armor. If his roll was successful (a partial success) he gets to subtract his shield, too.  
  • When sparring like this no one should get seriously hurt, and someone should stop the fight is someone gets hit for more than a couple points,or if someone gets knocked down a few times. 
  • Afterwards the wounded get treated with first aid (that's per wound, so in this case most if not all damage should be patched up right away).
• Valorous Rolls: It depends,. If it is their first bear, then probably, but for a seasoned knight, no. But feel free with trait rolls. Greg tended to be much freer with them in the adventures than indicated in the core rules, and the best way to learn is by doing. Try to give each PK a trait roll or two in each adventure to start. Then you can adjust the frequency from there to suit your taste and style of play. Basically, the trait rolls reflect the setting and source material, and make it challenging for a PK to act in a virtuous or heroic manner all the time, but many players don't like how that restricts their actions, so you have to work out just how often you want to roll. Personally, I like a lot of trait rolls, as do my players. But you might not, especially since it is a new concept. In old D&D terms it's kinda like alignment, but instead of penalizing the PC for playing "out of character," it defines just what is in character for them.

Thanks for the quick combat rules summary. I was thinking of putting them in a flowchart to use at the table.

I am using KAP5.0 (The one with the boar on the front cover) as I bought it years ago for another group. That group fell apart before I had a chance to run it. Are the rules explained differently/better in 5.2?

Hello!

I recently started my first Pendragon game and I am pretty sure I stuffed up the bear hunt from the core book. Luckily my players are cool about things. I just wanted some feedback from GMs who have run it before on a few things. If that is OK?

The PC's hunted the bear on horseback. Now is that realistic? I assume horses would be OK on forest trails and worn paths, but if the bear ran off into heavy woodland would a horse be able to follow? Would the rider risk hurting the horse  by doing so? (I've never done any horse riding in real life myself.) Now I couldn't find any rules for moving across difficult terrain in the rules, so I assume I would apply a -5 penalty to skill roles to control the horse and keep up the chase? 

Once they found the bear one of my players decided to charge it with his horse. This sounded... um... not a great idea to me... anyway I made the player do a horsemanship role to see if the horse would let him. Then used the damage value from the horse stats in the book. Was that right? (At this point I stuffed up the combat rules and didn't make it an opposed attack so the horse didn't take any damage. I am very much stuck in the DnD method of "I hit you, then you hit me" style of combat.)

I forgot a load of combat rules like knockdown. I imagine watching a fellow PC being pinned to the ground with an angry bear tearing lumps out of him would have focused the other players minds a bit!

Still getting my head around traits. Should I have made the players make a Valourous roll before they could engage the bear in combat? One of my players has a 16 in it.

There were more questions but I have forgotten them... they may come back to me. 

BTW - Is there a GM screen for this game? I google it but couldn't find any.

Thanks for reading!