Solo GURPS: Alas Mirayra, Session #1

Solo GURPS: Alas Mirayra, Session #1

The previous solo game didn't go far, so let's try another one. This time, I might create some more setting-specific and system-specific tables to roll on. Let's see how it goes this time.

Session #2 - link.

Session #3 - link.

Setting

I am going to use a setting of my own - Karilan. It is a fairly generic D&D/PF-like fantasy kitchen sink setting - just how I like things. I let the dice determine what character I am going to play (at least the place of birth and race), and then determine the other details with Central Casting: Heroes of Legend and other toolkits..

The game is going to take place in Indaril, a kingdom of fire elves that was split in two in the past due to theological disputes. Indaril is known for the devout worship of the elven pantheon, distrust for psionics, and its famous School of Spectral Magic.

Character

Alas Mirayra is a male fire elf, born in the large coastal town of Hortamil in the western part of Indaril. He was born into a financially struggling family. His father served in the military as an archer, but after losing an eye he had to settle down and became a fabric seller. His financial situation used to be better when he had a patron - the head of the local jeweler guild who also was a military veteran. However, the patron had died in a shipwreck, leaving Alas' father without patronage. Alas' mother was a housewife. Alas' father was her second husband.

    Alas has two older sisters and a fraternal twin brother. Alas was born in unusual circumstances - his mother was in a prison cell for public blasphemy. She said something terrible about Corellon Larethian, the main elven deity, for making her only give birth to girls. While she did go to prison for a short time for that, she did give birth to two boys there, which made her believe that the deity has heard her insult and decided to intervene.

    During his childhood, Alas formed a close friendship with his older (but not the oldest) sister Sana.

    When Alas was 36 years old, he got into some trouble with juvenile (by elven standards) thugs in a dark alleyway. After getting some bruises, Alas lashed out with his mind clouded by rage and scred the thugs away. Alas was not sure what really happened, but decided to keep this encounter a secret from everyone but Sana.

    When Alas was an adolescent 48 years old, he became fascinated with fishing. Alas, being a fire elf, was averse to water. The only contact with water that was not harmful was drinking and quick rinsing when bathing. Fish seemed to him as a creature that lives in extreme conditions, and the thrill of not only being surrounded by dangerous waters, but also catching creatures that live in these conditions seemed alike to legends about dragonslaying knights and other daredevils. Fishing was a rare hobby, but through it adolescent Alas got acquainted with a local noble - viscount Vaeril Entoris. The viscount felt lonely in his hobby, so he took a liking to Alas, eventually paying for his formal education. If not for Vaerial, Alas would've been illiterate.

    When Alas was 52 years old, his sister Sana introduced him to a wizard that lived in the town, saying that he might provide some insight about the childhood incident. That wizard, named Eldrin Phiwarin, told Alas that one of his ancestors was a celestial creature, and that this celestial blood "awakens" fully only under stress. However, he also taught Alas how to control this innate power. Thus, Alas gained control over his minor spellcasting abilities.

    Years later, when Alas already was legally adult, he was arrested in the streets out of nowhere. He had to spend several days in the prison cell, being accused in plotting a rebellion against the king. Even viscount Vaeril Entoris couldn't bail him out. During his incarceration, Alas was tortured by the royal agents. Eventually, he was freed, but he still does not know if that was a genuine mistake or if the royal agents were just looking for a scapegoat. He left the prison with his right ear torn off, which affected his hearing and disposition towards law enforcement. This incident pushed Alas towards leaving the town and trying his luck as an adventurer.

    Alas' struggling financial situation and friendship with a noble made him humble. However, the blood of a celestial being in his veins made him courageous and rebellious. Alas tends to act before thinking, not care about the consequences. However, his attitude sometimes can come off as disrespectful.

    When I was designing the character sheet, I just put all the skills and traits I wanted in and ended up with almost exactly 100 points. After some adjustments, I have arrived to exactly 100 points. Here is the sheet as a GCS file and as a PDF file.

SESSION #1

Scene 1

Setup: Alas does not want to wander off into the wilds aimlessly, so he asks Eldrin Phiwarin for a job or at least a suggestion. That wizard is bound to need something done.

CF: 4

Character List: Alas Mirayra, Sana Mirayra, Eldrin Phiwarin, Vaeril Entoris.

Thread List: N/A.

Chaos Roll: Normal Scene.

Detail Check Question: What is the job?

Detail Check Table Result: Sadness

Meaning (Action): Attainment Fears

Eldrin Phiwarin asks Alas to travel to the mountains in the northeast. This trip will distance Alas both from his home, but also from the shore that he loves so much. While leaving home is something Alas wants to do, the thought of never seeing the dangerous, vast sea is a sad one.

[What does "fear" even mean here? I decided to roll up a random Phobia from the GURPS Basic Set to determine what does the quest-giver fear and got dogs. Fortunately, I've found monsters in Dragon Magazine #293 that not only are canines, but also relish in causing fear and suffering.]

Eldrin has heard rumours of a large wolf appearing during thunderstorms in the mountains. One of the witnesses described it as a horrible monster capable of spewing lightning and running on air. The wizard is interested in procuring a pelt of this magical beast.

Fate Question: Will Eldrin provide any additional info about the beast?

Fate Check Modifier: Unlikely (-2) (He probably doesn't know much, judging by his giving the quest based on some witness' account).

Fate Check Result: Yes.

Eldrin had read about the thunder wolves before he heard the recent rumour that piqued his interest. He tells Alas that the thunder wolves sometimes form small packs, can breathe lightning, emit a deafening howl, and are only active during thunderstorms when natural lightning is present. With this knowledge, Alas should not be surprised by any magical abilities.

Alas knows that the mountains are 28 miles [3dx2] from the city, so it should take him about. At Medium encumbrance, [Alas is currently at Light encumbrance, but he probably will be at Medium upon setting out] Alas has Move 3. Dominant terrain on the way will be light forest, which will not decrease the travel speed. So, our elven hero will cover 1.5 miles per hour, if we do not count such things as bad weather, failed Navigation rolls, etc. Thanks to Less Sleep 4, Alas can travel up to 20 hours per day. Traveling with Medium encumbrance costs 3 FP per hour. Knowing the FP recovery rate, we can effectively halve the travel speed to 0.75 miles per hour. Under perfect conditions, a 28-mile-long trip should take 37.3 hours one way. Buying 10 extra trail rations sounds like a good idea. The main problem here is to arrive there during an active storm to increase the chances of finding the quarry. Alas does not have the Weather Sense skill, and the scope of his magical powers does not allow him to cast weather spells. In general, weather magic is restircted to druids and clerics of deities of weather. Let's try finding one!

[Roll against Area Knowledge-11. Got 11.]

Fate Question: Alas did succeed on his roll, but is there a person able to cast Predict Weather in the city?

Fate Check Modifier: Very Unlikely (-4) (While Indaril is known for its devout clergy, the elven pantheon lacks a deity with weather in their portfolio. Likewise, a druid is unlikely to be found in the city, because that's where their powers are hindered).

Fate Check Result: Exceptional No.

Nope. No druids, no priests, no one at all who could have helped with that. Alas, Alas will have to depend on luck in this aspect of his adventure.

Scene 2

Setup: Alas gears up for his trip, packs his things, and leaves the city for the mountains.

CF: 5 (The previous scene wasn't in the character's control).

Character List: Alas Mirayra, Sana Mirayra, Eldrin Phiwarin, Vaeril Entoris.

Thread List: Obtain a thunder wolf pelt.

Chaos Roll: Normal Scene.

[There are multiple ways of doing random encounters. For example, there's an encounter table in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 1: Mirror of the Fire Demon, but it is quite adventure-specific. However, the general result categories can be used as a base. When I GM games, I roll 3d for every hour of travel. On a critical success or failure a random encounter happens. So far, this has produced decent results. Thus, I am going to do the same here and use Mythic tables to determine what was encountered. Alternatively, I could have created region-specific encounter tables. Maybe next time.]

Alas sets out in the morning, and travels through the light forest for 12 hours until he encounters something. This should happen in the evening, but elves have Night Vision 5 that should negate any illumination penalties for this time of the day.

Detail Check Question: What was encountered?

Detail Check Table Result: Disfavors PC

Meaning (Action): Spy Path

Meaning (Description): Boldly Modern

It seems that Alas is about to get ambushed. Let's roll a Quick Contest of Perception against the ambusher's Stealth of 9+1d [Stealth-13; Alas loses by a large margin. I decided against even attempting to roll a Hearing-based Perception check due to Alas having Hard of Hearing].

"Hands up, chump!", Alas hears behind his back.

He turns around to the source of sound, because he didn't really catch the exact meaning of the phrase due to bad hearing. Ten yards away from him stands a male fire elf with a smug look on his face. What surprised Alas the most is that the ambusher was pointing some contraption at him. A wand of some sort? [I'll roll against IQ here. Rolled 12 vs. 11 - no, Alas hasn't heard of pistols before. This situation also calls for a roll against Impulsiveness (12). I rolled a 16.]

Disregarding danger, Alas takes a step forward and takes out his axe. The ambusher fires his pistol. [First, let's determine his Guns skill. I'll roll 9+1d. Got Guns (Pistol)/TL4-13. What kind of a pistol is that? Puffer pistol (GURPS Low-Tech, p. 93) sounds good for an early TL4 gun. It should be a safe assumption, that the gunman was aiming, so he gets a +3 bonus. Range penalty for 9 yards is -4. That gives us a roll against 12. I roll 15. For TL4 firearms, that's a malfunction. I roll the malfunction and get misfire.]

Nothing happens. If Alas had better hearing, he's heard the click of the trigger. From his point of view, the ambusher was just pointing the thing at him and doing nothing, but looking frustrated and nervous for some reason.

Fate Question: Is the bold ambusher armored?

Fate Check Modifier: Likely (+2).

Fate Check Result: No.

Fate Question: Does he have another pistol? They usually are used in pairs.

Fate Check Modifier: Likely (+2).

Fate Check Result: Yes.

Alas runs forward 3 yards, because he's still encumbered and actually is missing 3 FP. The distance now is 6 yards (range penalty -3). The ambusher takes a step back (range penalty still is -3), drops his malfunctioning gun and tries to Fast-Draw another one. [Again, he will have Fast-Draw 9+1d, i.e. 14. He rolls 13.] With a quick motion, he points the pistol at Alas and pulls the trigger. [Roll against 10. Got a 9. First, let's see if the vitals got hit. I roll 1d and get 4, fortunately. Now, let's roll damage. 2d-1 results in 5 pi+ damage. Alas has DR 2 on his torso, so 3 pi+ penetrating damage results in 4 points of injury. That's more than 1/4 of his HP, so it triggers a Berserk roll. I roll 8 against 12, so Alas does not enter bloodrage. By the way, I omitted the defense roll in this case because Alas does not know about firearms, but now he does. Also, since this is his first encounter with a gun, let's use the Cool Under Fire rules from GURPS Tactical Shooting. I would have never thought that I'd use this book here. Alas gets a +6 total bonus to his Will roll (+5 for the heat of battle and +1 for Fearlessness 1), but Will is capped at 14 for Fright Checks. I roll 3d and get 11.] A thunderclap loud even for the half-deaf Alas only startled him. Sharp pain in his chest almost enraged him, but he retained his composure, advancing 3 more yards (current distance is 4 yards).

The ambusher, seeing that the shot did not stop Alas, drops his gun and takes out his secondary weapon - a kusari, readying it for Reach 2. [I determined it randomly.] Then he takes a step back. Alas continues his advance, now stopping only within 2 yards of the bold enemy. The ambusher decides to use a flashy move - disarming (or maybe he doesn't want to kill Alas?) Since he's using a kusari, he gets a +2 bonus to hit Alas' axe. [First, let's determin the ambusher's Kusari skill level, using our usual 9+1d method. I roll a 6, which grants Kusari-15. That's scary. An attempt to strike a Reach 1 weapon is at -3. Disarming takes an additional -2 penalty, but it is negated by the kusari's +2 bonus. Thus, the ambusher rolls against 12. Gets a 13. That's a miss.] He also takes a step back, because why not?

Alas spends 1 FP to perform a giant step (6/10 FP now) and swings his axe at the ambusher, since he is now within 1 yard. [Roll against Axe/Mace-12. I get a 12. That's a potential hit. The ambusher does a retreating dodge. Wait. What are his stats? For this situation, let's roll his DX and HT (8+1d). We get DX 11 and HT 9 - kind of normal for fire elves. The guy probably has Combat Reflexes since his Kusari skill is 15, he's an experienced fighter. That gives us the Dodge value of 9. And +3 for Retreating. He rolls and gets a 7.] The nimble ambusher dodges the attack. His kusari is still set to Reach 2, and the retreat has put his at the range of 2 yards. So, he just swings it at Alas. [Roll against 15. Gets a 13. Alas does a retreating dodge too. Roll against 9 (encumbrance!). Gets an 11. That's a hit. What is the ambusher's ST? I get 11 (that's the ST required to wield a kusari properly). He rolls 1d+3 crushing damage. Gets a 6. That's 4 points of injury. This triggers a Berserk roll. I roll a 17.]

The strong blow Alas has received did not slow him down. Instead, he felt his blood burn from within. Upon entering bloodrage (Cold Berserk variant + Enraged), Alas must go for the deadliest attack (or the most convenient attack) each turn, including spells. In this situation, his Cremate spell is actually less deadly than an axe swing, even though it ignores DR (even the racial fire resistance of the fire elves). Because of this, the most dealy option would be stepping forward and swinging at the neck. Since the Berserk disadvantage has the Enraged limitation, it allows Alas to use Committed Attack instead of All-Out Attack, so he won't be completely defenseless. [Alas has Axe/Mace-12, Committed Attack (Determined) gives a +2 bonus to hit, while neck is targeted at -5. The final ESL is 9. I roll 3d and get 10. That's a torso hit instead. The ambusher attempts a retreating dodge. Rolls 3d against 12, gets a 7. Lucky!].

The ambusher easily dodges the attack and swings his kusari again. [Roll against Kusari-15. Gets 14. Alas cannot retreat, is encumbered, cannot parry, and takes a -2 penalty to dodge. That's a grim situation, so he attempts a Feverish Dodge (5/10 FP now). Rolls against Dodge 6-2+2. Gets a 14. The ambusher rolls 1d+3 damage, gets a 6. That's another 4 points of injury. Alas is at 0/12 HP now.]

The wound did not slow down Alas in the slightest, and he felt no pain from it. [However, he still must roll against HT+1 to remain conscious. Rolls a 7. He's fine for now.] In this state he should be able to fight for quite some time without passing out, so there's no reason to go for All-Out Attack (Double) yet. Alas steps forward and committedly swings at the ambusher's neck. [Roll against 9. Gets a 14. That's a miss.] The ambusher attempts to knock Alas out by stepping back and doing a Committed (Determined) swing at his face. [Roll against Kusari-12. Gets a 14.] Alas sees an opening in the foe's defense, so he decides to risk it. An All-Out Attack (Double) should be the most deadly option here after all. Both target the neck. [Two rolls against Axe/Mace-7. Get 14 and 8. The latter still results in a potential torso hit. The ambusher cannot retreat, so he just does a Feverish dodge. Rolls against 11 and gets 15. Alas rolls 1d+5 cutting damage and gets 6. That transforms into 9 points of injury. This is a major wound, so the ambusher rolls against HT 9. He rolls 15.]

Swinging his axe madly, Alas advances. One swing almost reaches the enemy's neck, and the other one tears through the clothes and leaves a nasty wound on the foe's chest. The elf immediately collapses. Alas snaps out of his enraged state and realizes that he's about to collapse as well. Both elves are bleeding. Alas has some bandages, but since an attempt to bandage takes 1 minute, he is very unlikely to finish it successfully, because he still has to roll against HT every turn he is doing something. He just has to wait it out and hope that the bleeding stops. As per bleeding rules, now he has to either pass three consecutive HT rolls or pass one of them critically. Let's roll the dice! Alas rolls 9, 7, 14, 11, 14, 3 - that's 3 HP lost to bleeding and a critical success - the bleeding stops. The ambusher is still alive, but bleeding and unconscious. He should awaken soon, but Alas still is in a very vulnerable state. It would be best for him to deal a finishing blow. First, Alas rolls HT to stay conscious, gets a passable 7, and drops his axe on the elf's neck. Now it's time to rest. When he recovers enough HP to act without risking passing out, he will check out if the ambusher was carrying anything interesting, and find shelter - that gunshot could've attracted other dangers. I'll leave this for next time.