Right, so I've managed to gather some of my favourite gamers within my reach (on the same peninsula) for a get together to night. Hopefully it'll be a blast.

Any pointers and tips as to how to run the Crate of Krayts (and how to keep them on track ) ?

I find the initiative system confusing but I have it correct when I assume that after each players has rolled initiative they choose among themselves who goes in what slot yes? So even if player A roll the highest, player B could get that slot? If the group finds it to be the best idea…

Additionally if there are any pointers as to how to run the game - any at all, quirks with weapons, skills, encounters, use of adv or threats (triumphs or despair) anything at all, please post here.

Even suggested house-rules are welcome (ie stuff not likely to become part of the official book but which you deem fun, entertaining and more or less balanced).

So yeah, wish me luck and destroy a die

I think this is spoiler free. A few pieces of advice:

• Read through it first. Then again, then a third time. I found that there were some big omissions that weren't obvious on a first read-thru (How high are the canyon walls, How far are the characters actually from the ship, etc.) The system gives you plenty of rules, but seeing as how this was supposed to be a tutorial adventure, there were massive gaps. I did not read it carefully before running it (my players basically gave me 2 hrs notice), and it was a pain
• Figure out who the **** Pon is. Seriously, tell me if you figure it out. he (I think its a he) is suddenly dropped in a block of text in the second part, and I had no idea who he was supposed to be.
• Be ready to make up the species for some of the NPCs, I don't think they're listed (Pon & Tennom are the ones that stand out).
• Beyond reducing obligation (which my players still feel that hadn't earned), they demanded what they were going to be paid. Be prepared to toss them some credits.
• Get some glass gaming beads to use as counters for strain and wounds, or have a separate system in place. Strain will be all over the place.
• Make up a quick sheet of what the players can do with with advantages and threats, or just copy pg 133.

I think that's it. I'll save editorial on the adventure for a different post.

-WJL

Oh, you also may want to roll up NPC initiatives for the last encounter before you start. There's a LOT of NPCs that may be acting.

And read Tor Cordol's stat block ahead of time and figure out how you want to use him. When you see what he's rocking for an attack, you'll be glad I gave you a heads up.

-WJL

I remember Pon to be a hireling - perhaps lieutenant - of Nuoso or Naoko or whatever the Hutt was called. He is also the guy who torched Greentop (the initial destination). As for species, I think they were specified, one of the two is a mon cal I think --- not that it matters much, we have no official species traits for them.

About the canyon walls and distance to the ship: what did you rule in this case? I think I recall some insinuation in this regard, but I'm at work now so can't check (I wish I had a pdf of this game too - I'd gladly pay extra )

beads for strain and wounds - got it

Thanks for the advice! I'm also running my first session tonight. I'm using a homemade scenario so I'm not so worried about the Krayts adventure. I do, however, like the idea of using glass beads for Strain and Wounds.

We (my players and I) actually ran a practice combat a few weeks ago, after Character Creation, and found it to be pretty deadly. Was this everyone elses experience, too? I've toyed with the idea of allowing a Destiny Point be spent to cancel a single wound. Would that be too much?

Ran part 1 and 2 this week. Some points.

Definitely read and re-read each sections and picture scenes in your head and jot down the details you picture. Prepare uses for advantages and threat on some rolls you know the PCs have to make. If you are not good at improvising, don't get caught on an important with no idea how to drive the plot forward.

Part 1: What is the layout of the canyon and where crates, power generators, droids, shipping equipment, vaporators. Is there swoop biker gang hangout? How many famers are milling about? Just outside the landing area and the farm, what are rock formations and ambush points for the raiders.

Suggestion: Have the Tuskan raiders ambush up close. Most PC groups can easily gun down minion raiders running at them from long range before melee is even an issue. But if they ambush at medium or close, it really put the PCs on heels. Also, have the ambush start with Jora getting wounded from the opening shots of the snipers, so he doesn't accidentally steal the show from the PCs. For each player beyond 3 add a group of 3 raiders and describe the sounds of even more coming. The Tuskans should literally chase the PCs onto the ship. You could also throw in a kidnapped female tuskan bounded in one of settlement huts. If the PCs go in there either as cover or after the combat, it would flesh out why the raiders were raiding in the first place and makes the Hutt and Jora look villianous. This paints the picture that PCs work for real scum and give an eerie tone going forward which could create interesting inter-group ethical debate about how their ship was paid for.

When I ran it, the PCs easily gunned down the sniper groups before the ground raiders ran into engaged combat. Between Jora and the PCs (two of three of them were touting a blaster rifle and bowcaster) the minions fell too quickly. Once the PCs controlled the scene, they lingered around. they perform search rolls and scrounge through the farm and cargo area picking up anything useful like a bunch Jawas (they justified it because they were so broke and they had the time). as a result there was almost no tension. Also, one PC immediately ran to the ship, powered it up and used it to fire ship weapons at the poor raiders. Since there isn't really any rules on how much combat time it takes to take off, I simply called for a maneuver which may have been a mistake.

Part 2: The PCs will go about on an information gathering scene to find Lanni and what do to with the crates. This commonly gets derailed when you call for checks to get the info and the PCs proceed to horribly fail at all of them. Murphy law: if you need the PCs to make a check, they won't.

Suggestion: Since the scene is pretty dependent on the PCs making at least one of the info gathering rolls, I'd suggest making them easy difficulty. And prep some uses of advantages in case they roll them and you can use it to give them other clues to try other rolls. Add tension and suspense by describing that the PCs sense they are being watched. Call for Perception checks. If they succeed, describe shadowy figures dodging out of site from multiple directions. After the PCs find and talk to Lanni and learn about Techtank, have them encounter a small group of henchman bounty hunters at their ship, if you want to spice up the session with another fight, otherwise proceed to part 3.

When I ran it, the PCs failed alot of average checks (without setback die even) to find and access Lanni, it took some on the fly thinking to get them to there. They were kinda frustrated with that (one was even a social skill expert and was still failing checks) so I gave them another (harder) fight back at the ship. Hench man are much better and that fight had the PCs using stims and ducking for cover and passing the boost die to each other with advantages.

The more we play, the faster it goes, the more fun we have, and so on. Looking forward to running part 3. Reply if that helps anyone.

The initiative system used in this game in IDENTICAL to the one used in WFRP 3rd Ed. Here's how it works:

At the beginning of an encounter (combat or social) have everyone roll initiative (Agility or Presence checks accordingly). Ask for everyone's results. Make a list of the results form highest to lowest. These are the PCs initiative slots. Next either roll for your NPCs/enemies initiative OR if you rolled ahead of time, plug their results into the initiative track in order from highest to lowest…these are the NPC initiative slots.

Next, starting at the top of the track, if it's a PC slot, ask the players which one of them will go first…let them decide….resolve their actions/maneuvers, then move to the next slot on the track, if it's an NPC, decide which of your NPCs will act first…and so on.

By allowing the players and yourself to decide who goes next as the encounter progresses (instead of everyone declaring their turn order all at once), you end up with a much more natural and at the same time tactical initiative order, with the PCs and you as the GM, reacting to what just happened before it was your side's turn and deciding who goes next accordingly.

Jegergryte said:

Yeah, what FFG doesn't include in the adventure is a sidebar about what actually happened at Greentop, and its kind of a big omission. The GM is left to infer it from the way everything else is described, and its not central. I was flipping all over the book to find that information, and it ends up it wasn't there. The modules need these synopses so the GM can run it efficiently.

Pon is first mentioned in the text where the players find Lanni. It says "Lanni's there, Pon is not"… Who the **** is is Pon!? SHOULD the player be looking for him? Two paragraphs later it says Lanni is suspicious of Pon. And FURTHER down,

****SPOILER ALERT****

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

xxxxxxxxIt says xxxxx shes xxxxx suspicious xxxxx of ponXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

*****END SPOILERS*****

Theres like one line about what Pon is doing during the final fight that I totally missed.

As far as the height of the canyon, theres ONE line about it being "many meters high" I think it was in the "read this to the players description" I ruled it was "medium". I also ruled they were "long" range from the ship, but I think more fun could have been had if you made it Close to the switch backs, 3 manuevers up the switch backs, then Medium back to the ship (Or medium to the switch backs and close to the ship).

Having at least one group the Tusken reavers start closer than long to the players is probably a good idea.

Uh, also figure out what you want to do about the flashing lights, the text is "They require no immediate attention", but don't say if it requires "later" attention.

-WJL

Right.

Its late (so I'll make this short) and the first session ended with approaching nar shaddaa, realising greentop is burned out and finding a place to land (I doubt they can afford docking fees - spending it all on gear).

First off, I need to read more closely some of the rules on wounds (increasing difficulties) and healing - applying stimpacks (and emergency repair kits) does not require checks does it? only a manoeuvre?

Aside from being ill prepared it went well. Three of the players are seasoned, the fourth could be considered a newbie.

The pilot (droid) gunned down some tusken snipers with his heavy blaster pistol, while the gadgeteer moved the big crate on sled while firing his heavy pistol on the same. The swashbuckling scoundrel rich boy and the female (force sensitive - no powers only talents) assassin carried the last crate. Bad planning from them, but I realised quickly (after the droid scored a triumph causing a landslide on top of the first tusken reavers group) that Jora could step out of the fight. Even when the second group of reavers arrived to melee the two carrying the crate to death, things "didn't go my way" and the only PC that suffered any substantial wound was the swashbuckling scoundrel.

A combat heavy - but relatively short - session. Not disappointed, but still not overly impressed. Although the system does seem to promise more fun than that encounter offered.

I can't remember all my questions, but one was about boost die from spending advantages … is this always next/same round? or can it be "later" as in much later?

I find the amount of advantages produced, compared to successes, to be troublesome in some instances, but over all it was a good game.

Oh, and Skullduggery needs to be clarified, and potentially split into at least two skills.

But main conclusion: I need to read the rules and stuff more thoroughly … and I remember why I don't like pre-mades

I see now the chaos of my post-game head. I apologise.

The dice system was quickly picked up by all the players, even the newbie. What did cause some concern, confusion and stalling was the amount of advantages produced. The players did simply not know what to do with them all and it ran counter to their intuition when there was no success … but they picked it up after a while. A way to keep track of boost dice, setback dice in particular would be nice… I think I need to construct a "combat/initiative sheet" or something. Hohum.

So the dice mechanic works well, but is a break from the usual and demands roleplaying and creativity - I like it, but for some players its a hard task to not to just "play the game" (ie system) it seems. One players scored a Triumph, which was used to set off a landslide and kill a group of minions. I suggested it and thought it was a good use of that symbol, although I'm not sure if that is above and beyond the idea. The players loved the power though

Going back to relative distance and the so called "abstract" combat system - that we used in the olden days - was confusing, but it worked well all things considered. The players enjoyed it, didn't mind the unclear nature of "a few dozen meters that away", I think they rather liked it actually.

As for the adventure, I could do without running a pre-made, it is an art-form I have never mastered, and most likely never will. I think I should finish it though, with some tweaks of my own. Next weekend I will play with some new players though, so then I will wing it in the usual way. Gonna be great!

Destiny points where not really used, except for the one I spent on upgrading a difficulty die to challenge - alas it rolled a blank…

Sounds like it went about the same way as my game did. I used a player generated triumph in the same way to allow the players to cause a landslide and take out some minions. I think this is the exact intended use of triumphs "Doing something vital to turn the tide of the battle", so maybe your landslide cut the raiders off, instead of killing them, but the effect is the same.

Glad to see other players are noticing the large number of advantages produced. I really REALLY hope FFG is paying attention and is willing to change the dice. You're definitely not the first group to notice it.

Re: Skulduggery, I don't think we need to be splitting skills and creating more.

The way the rules are written, boost and setbacks generated by advantages are applied to the next check the affected character makes. So it doesn't have to be used on their next TURN, it just has to be used on their next CHECK. I guess they can delay it by not taking an action on their next turn.

I'm planing on using white and black poker chips to track who has boosts and setbacks, respectively, on their next checks.

-WJL

GoblynKing said:

Being a past WFRP referee, I would add that if players argue for a bit over who goes next, they have stalled too long in game time. Make them pass on the initiative point they were arguing over. They will quickly correct themselves the next round.