Zelghast Incident (Inactive)

Game Master Deiros

Brand Hawkens is my Half-elf Fighter. I'm working on his back story now.

So are we fighting everyone or are we fighting the other teams? I'm assuming we have to request weapons in-character, correct?

yes weapons are in character, you are fighting people at random from other teams. There are 4 teams using A.C.E. so, some ended up with familiar faces. Players will not face other player's but you will get to fight at least 1 or 2 of the Azure NPC's

In mech combat do we have to crack the hardness 10 to damage the pilot, or is that only for sunder checks?

It's for Sunder checks, otherwise there wouldn't be much point of having AC.

Just making sure :)

The mechs did seem like they'd be overbalanced toward defense if they gave us a hardness/DR... as is I think I'll stay with a battleaxe and shield instead of a greataxe.

Yeah, hardness+AC is to much so it was going with AC or hardness and for simplicity I stayed with AC.

I am looking at Brand ^^ don't worry, just trying to find time to get the battle map done.

Brand you are up in this part so pick a color and a map position ^^

Well during this giant festivity time, do you guys want to "pause" the game until January the 4th-6thish or something?

Seems the best thing to do, most people will be busy until 2nd or 3rd.

I agree with Bram. I should be good to go by the 4th.

I swear the dice don't want me to pilot! :(

Well it is a very miss fight which both are doing 10+ damage, you fight is the first one to hit wins...

Sorry about the delay!

I was travelling and my computer died on me. I'm (finally!) home and got a replacement... IC post coming soon.

Not going to be online much today, but I should be tomorrow. DMPC me if you need too.

ok done deal, and no worries Aaron, I had a busy day today also, kind of a family emergency...

You can attack other players they will just count as if they were NPC for this encounter, you only need to defeat 1 to pass the test so feel free to mess with other players and test your abilities against live opponents ^^ it will have no effect on you as long as you have already defeated 1 M.G.

Oh, I did not know that.

Hey Deiros, starting tomorrow I have long days Monday and Wednesday, so my posting those two days will drop off. Thought I should tell you.

No problems mate I only require for a post within 48hrs, this is after all a playtest ^^

Promise to have an update today, its been hard all this damnable week, wife in the hospital and got laid-off so I'm a bit busy but will try to keep it up.

I'm still around just don't even have a lot of time so I understand if you want to move to other games and will understand if you wish to stay with me also, whatever you guys choose, just going to say my posting is going to go down drastically do to my current circumstances and hope you understand.

Everyone has stuff like that come up sooner or later... I'm interested in this game and will jump back in whenever you find time to update.

It cool, stuff happens.

I'm not going to hold it against you, so don't worry.

Just chime back in when you're able.

Okay, I'm a bit confused. There was an NPC with a scythe?

You can attack other players they will just count as if they were NPC for this encounter, you only need to defeat 1 to pass the test so feel free to mess with other players and test your abilities against live opponents ^^ it will have no effect on you as long as you have already defeated 1 M.G.

I'm at H5, and took a swing at you since moving to attack NPC4 would have opened me up to flanking.

So because I attack NPC4 to help Aaron out, he attacks me? Well, if the guy wants NPC4 all to himself, he could have just said something. Let the battle continue!

Sorry, that's the trouble with a free-for-all :(

I was expecting a chance to cut a deal with someone on the battlefield so we could team up until we were the last two left. The NPC turned me down, and it didn't seem like an appropriate moment to make the offer to Grigori. I think you act at higher initiative than Aaron, if the GM's OK with a little retconing it might be possible to strike a quick truce to have each others backs until the end of the match. Then the attack roll could apply to NPC4 instead... Aaron's been itching to finish him (or her) off.

It's one of those issues that came up because of the PbP environment and communication limitations, we could have struck an agreement right away if we were playing at the same table and could chat about it in real-time.

Well so far what do you think of the fighting mechanics?

Leave them as is or make them into vehicle rules (no ride checks) just add a skill to the base AC or any other suggestions.

I'm back slow but back, it's hard to take care of my wife and 2 year old... not to mention I had to sell my car to pay bills, but other than my RL problems hope yo hear some feedback as the campaign continues.

Right now, I think the rules are much too biased toward defense. Full BAB attackers will hit defenders less than 25% of the time, and those hits will be negated by ride checks. I actually like the ride check mechanic, I'd either reduce the armor bonus provided by the MG or have it provide some sort of bonus to hit (probably insight or competence, depending on the flavor you want).

Offering a bonus to hit allows MGs to be more of a threat to each other but still maintain their effectiveness against non-armored troops. It also would emphasize maneuver combat, making tripping and flanking essential to non-MG troops trying to take down a MG.

Dropping the AC bonus from the mech would place greater emphasis on the ride checks and give troops not armed with MGs more of a fighting chance against them. It all depends on what kind of feel you want your mechs to have...

I'm not familiar with any d20 vehicle combat rules, so I can't offer any comments there.

My answer will depend a bit on what you want your mechs to be like. As Aaron said.

Vehicle combat doesn't give ride checks it would just be

10 (base) +2 (Shield) + (in this case Ride) as the AC which is ridiculously high.

I was thinking to making it to just leave the AC as 10 + Mech Equipment+ Mech Dex. To allow the Ride checks reflect competent M.G. pilots?

I'm looking for easy to hit mechs but make them depend on their rider's skill to be more their real AC to reflect the difference between a greenhorn and an Ace pilot.

I will probably make the M.G. Strength 20 instead of 18.

The other option is similar to Heavy Gears.

Flat AC ratios, higher HP, Higher damage capabilities Str 25 and Damage reduction.

AC ratios is divided by M.G. Categories (light, Medium and Heavy) with some variants here and there and starting hp of 40hp light -50hp medium -60hp heavy. Also making different base speeds. for each. 60 light, 50 medium, 40 heavy.With some variants of course :) just ideas to consider after this fight.

I like how they've been handled so far.

Feeling somewhat angry at being attacked by a teammate, Grigori retaliates with a swing of his scythe.

I don't want any bad blood at the (virtual) gaming table... my impression from the lead-in to the game was that none of us had ever worked/studied/fought together before. The ACE simulation was the first time any of us in "Team Azure" (5PCs/5NPCs) had met, and our assignment for this round of ACE was to be the last man standing. If any of that is wrong I apologize, Aaron is a conniving SOB but he wouldn't be looking to make enemies just yet!

Nah, look again. I changed it to avoid that. It's probably the start of a rivalry, but no real hard feelings. He's just thinking that teammates shouldn't hog the enemy! :)

A few things:

It was my understanding that everyone in the virtual fight was on the same team. i.e. - our current NPC teammates were the NPCs we "killed" in the fight. Am I misunderstanding? If this is the case, hitting each other was pretty much the plan the whole time. We didn't role-play it but we eventually all fought each other, right?

I'm not sure what to do about the Mech rules. It seems like the fights are going to take a long time since we can completely negate damage with ride checks. To be honest, I'm still not clear on how the whole mechanic works.

You are right Henk, but you went through more then one series of fights to determine the top 10.

Those mechanics might change soon and use the vehicle rules for the M.G. instead which would mean you get no ride checks to avoid damage, but instead it only adds to your AC (like armor).

You all level up by the way and win a new trait.

Aedis Adept:
You are used to the technology of the Ozmorian empire and the Aedis equipment, gaining a +2 competence to make repairs on any mechanical device operated by and Aedis inlet or other such named artifact. You cannot make repairs that concern to the magical part of an Aedis unless you know the appropriate spells.

Custom parts available:
Aedis Targeting Enhancement: These implement grant a +1 Competence bonus on attack rolls whenever using ranged weapons.

Improved Structure: This structural modification makes the M.G. more resilient to damage taken by increasing its hit points by 5.

Stealth: These additions enable a Mech to move more nimbly and make less noise, removing the noisy quality from the Mech.

Armor Augmentation: Increases the Mech’s Armor Class by +1 or +2.

Spell Resistant Coating: This coating is placed over a Mech to grant spell resistance 14.

Freebie for full fledged pilots:
Restoration Oils: This metal container is 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch deep, and contains five applications. Placed upon rusted area the ointment removes all rust and repairs the area. When applied to damaged areas it repairs 1d8+5 points of damage. You also gain a +5 competence bonus to Craft Mechanic when using it.

New Hit Points: 1d10 ⇒ 6

Deiros, do we get +1 to an ability score at this level?

If everyone gets a custom part, Henk will take the Aedis Targeting Enhancement for his mech.

I will take the Armor Augmentation Custom part.

Took Advanced Firearms Proficiency as well.

Anyone interested in taking teamwork feats? If not I'll probably go with combat expertise or combat reflexes.

For mech upgrades, I'm very interested in Stealth. The spell resistant coating is spiffy too but I think being able to sneak around will be a huge benefit.

New HP: 1d10 ⇒ 4

I agree with Aaron. I might not be the sneakiest, but an extra penalty is no help.

Hp:1d10 ⇒ 6

No +1 to an ability yet, for the M.G.

I looked over the vehicle rules, and they could definitely work but it would require some conversions from your current mech stats. Another possibility would to make the MG rules be based off the construct armor option, with special adjustments for constructs of larger size than the wearer.

I guess my ow activity is at fault but how many of you are still alive, since I only notice 3 and that is well below of what is needed so if you want to call it a day and find better game is fine and will just place this campaign as inactive, want me to recruit more players or what are your opinions?

I'm still active, but it's difficult to stay engaged with such a slow pace... it might be best to just call it a day.

I agree with Aaron, it's hard to keep with a slow pace sometimes.

Fair enough! I thank you all for helping me playtest the mechs and for your valuable time, sorry I was not up to the challenge of being a good GM in this case.