A few days ago I ran my first online session ever. The result was... unexpectedly positive? Normally, I would've taken the train to their place (they are a couple), eaten lunch/dinner (or both) and spent an awesome time rolling dice. With the current situation, however, we thought about postponing the campaign until we could meet in person again, but things as they are, all of us seem to more hooked on to this thing than we initially thought, and so the session ensued.
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| Behold! |
The game was short (a couple of hours long, when it usually takes between for and six) and consisted mostly of an almost gone wrong and totally avoidable encounter with a crimson serpent and character development. Overall the experience was enjoyable, if only to keep us going. When the game ended, though, I realized that I was as drained (or perhaps more) as I usually would be from our common sessions. See, when I interpret NPCs I tend to emphasize their actions and emotions by trying to "play" the character. I may hit the table with my fist, get closer to the players, whisper, SHOUT, stand up and pace, anything that may help bring the character a little bit closer to life. Given the circunstances and my shitty camera, I believe all that may have accrued as tension.
And now for something completely different.
HUNTING MECHANICS
At some point during the session, one of the players told me she wanted to scout for prey. Although everyone in the table knew that wasn't the smartest move, she simply went for it as A) the group was in need of food and B) she tends to play her character according to her stats and background (low Knowledge score, low Presence score, weird thought patterns).
So far so good, right?
Well, yes, except for the fact that the game doesn't support hunting at this point. "Oh shut up, not everything needs a subsystem or its own mechanic, just roll some dice and stuff will happen." While I would normally agree with that statement, the truth is that two of my three players chose Hunt as either their Nature or their Tendency on character creation, and the three of them belong to an organization the whole point of which is, among other things, trailblazing and, you guessed it, HUNTING.
HUNTING MECHANICS (now for real)
If you chose Hunt as your Nature, you can both lead or participate in a hunt whenever you find yourself in the wilderness. If you chose Hunt as your Tendency, you can participate in a Hunt initiated by another hunter.
A hunt lasts for one watch (around 6 hours) unless stated otherwise.
When leading a hunt, Roll Intuition or Knowdlege (3d6) to scout the area and check your result in the following table. You can roll an additional d6 for every other hunter participating in the hunt. Then, discard that same amount of dice.
- Success. You found a trail! Get 1 Omen. You can follow it to trigger the corresponding Encounter.
- Doubles. ...and it's fresh! As Success, but the Hunt lasts for half a watch instead. If you experiment with the trail in any way (smell it, lick it, touch it, whatever really as long as you describe it), you can ask a Yes/No question about the creature. All hunters participating in the Hunt can do this.
- Triples. ...and the creature is unawares! As Doubles, and you can try to slay your prey before it notices you. Roll Hunt (1d6 roll under). You can roll an additional die for every other hunter but can only keep one of the results. If you pass, your prey is slain. Go ahead, describe the kill for everyone in the table! If you fail, the creature suffers 1d6+Hunt damage and it becomes aware of your presence. (GM note: if the creature is too powerful to be brought down in one shot, like a dragon or a troll or something, a success could disable one of its special skills or simple deal a lot of damage).
- Failure. You found a trail, but it's old. Get 1 Omen. The trail is too faint to follow.
- Doubles. You found something else entirely. Random Encounter.
- Triples. Hunter becomes prey. Ambush.
Some Comments
The ranger/hunter has always been one of the most difficult classes/approaches to the game to conceptualice for me. Since the beginning I knew that I wanted hunters to be able to manipulate or havee access to the random encounter table, but I wasn't sure how to achieve that in an engaging way. Before I came up with this, I thought of something called the exploration die (1d6) that the hunters would roll whenever I rolled the encounter die. If any of exploration dice matched the encounter one, then something cool happened depending on the number rolled. I dropped the idea after one session. While the concept has some merits (having a hunter in the party can alter play in unique ways, having many increases the chances), it has a fatal flaw that revealed itself too quickly: the level of engagement is non-existent. It is simply too passive and there are no choices to be made.
I believe the current system addreses this by giving the players both the choice to actively engage in a hunt and access to the random encounter table. Usually, encounters are something that the players suffer or randomly stumble upon, as there they are dictated by the encounter die. With this system, the players can choose to seek the creatures and scout the area for clues of what may lie ahead. At the same time, a group of hunters has a higher chance of finding their prey unaware and a lesser chance of being ambushed, which I think is neat and reinforces the idea of teamwork (I'm a sucker for dice pools, what can I say?).
Of course, when you create a system/mechanic, there must be ways for the players to interact with it through their choices and abilities. Like with any other ability test, I would give them an extra d6 to roll/drop if they come up with sensible explanations as to why they should get and edge on the test: hunting dogs, favourable weather, familiar terrain, etc... Likewise, there are some skills that characters with Hunt as either their Nature or Tendency can train in order to become better hunters.
1. Hunter's Mark
You can use one Action to focus your attention on a beast within sight, taking in its scent, motion patterns and overall demeanor. Your attacks deal additional damage equal to half your Hunt, rounded down (minimum 1). When you lead or participate in a hunt, you can declare that you are scouting for your marked prey. If you do, replace all the Omens and Encounters with those of the marked beast (this only works if the creature is in the surrounding area). You can only have one prey marked at any given time.
Note: I'm not convinced about the damage bit, it strikes me as flat and dull, but it could be a way to make the hunters at the table feel more hunterlike and all, as this skill doesn't work with people. Common sense should always prevail though, if you marked a prey five days ago and you are now in a completely different area, you are not going to find what you are looking for. Should I add a clause like "You lose the scent/trail/mark if you fail to actively chase your prey for one day" or something like that, to clarify? This matter must be further investigated.
7. Experienced Scout
When you lead or participate in a hunt, roll an additional 1d6 and drop any of the results. If the roll is successful, you get 1 additional Omen.
Note: simple and to the point, this allows hunters to cover more terrain in the same amount of time, hence the additional omen.
CONCLUSIONS
As usual, I have the feeling I might've gone a bit too overboard with the mechanics and such. I won't be able to really tell until this is tested at the table. Given the emphasis of the setting on wilderness exploration (yes, I still have to write a post about it and the system), I may end up tweaking this further or abandoning it completely. Time (and my players) will tell.
In the meantime, take care, good hunter.
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