The Consumption - Al's Home Hardware

[gardenphilosoph]

The store is small and overstocked. Searching the cluttered aisles lends you a feeling of claustrophobia, and you can't help but have a sense of paranoia, constantly checking behind your shoulders. The store, like the city, is utterly deserted. Silent.

The front counter is a mess. Items lie on the floor everywhere, and there are glass shards from a shattered window. The cash register is overturned, possibly looted.

You find what you're looking for - a small hatchet. Tearing the hard plastic cover off the blade, you check the balance of the improvised weapon. It feels good.

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Two Notice checks please, and a Notice check each for everything else you want to find.

[Kuma Da]

Emmett Bower

Good enough. It'll serve.

Emmett does one last quick sweep of the shelves and darts back outside.

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Notice #1: (1d10)[10]+7
Notice #2: (1d10)[10]+7

If either of those two are to locate infected, then they get an additional +2 due to situational awareness.

Notice power drill: (1d10)[10]+7
Notice crowbar: (1d10)[6]+7

Edit: madre de dios. Emmett's aware of every single zombie in the city.

[gardenphilosoph]

Another minute of searching yields a fearsome power drill and a small crowbar. These should prove handy as weapons. About to leave, you notice a piece of paper taped to the front counter. It's a hastily scrawled note.

Julia, if you read this, I'm in the storage room. It's unlocked but knock before you come in - I have a gun.

Love,
Al

You think you can hear something coming from the back. It might be the wind hitting some curtains, or someone's light breathing.

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The knowledge must be driving him mad!

[Kuma Da]

Emmett Bower

Emmett returns to the store and darts as quietly as he can towards the back. When he finds the door to the storage room he pauses for a moment, squares he shoulders, and turns the knob without opening it. He waits a beat, then throws the door open and dashes in, bellowing "don't shoot!" If there's a standing figure inside, he hurls himself at them and attempts to wrestle them to the ground.

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Go ahead and make whatever rolls are called for.

[gardenphilosoph]

You slam open the door, hitting something fleshy on the other side.

A figure standing limply in the center of the room, illuminated by flickering florescent tubes from above, suddenly animates, snarling and leaping at you in an awkward predatory lope.

As you prepare for the sudden attack, your foot hits a thick layer of blood on the floor, almost the consistency of grease. You struggle to keep your balance.

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What rolls do you want me to make? In the future, I mean.

Roll a Difficult Dexterity Task please.

[Kuma Da]

Emmett Bower

Emmett throws himself flat on the floor and lunges at the infected's legs, attempting to pull them out from underneath it or, alternately, caber-toss it aside.

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Basically any roll that my actions provoke but I haven't already rolled for. Like this dexterity test, and whatever sort of attack it is that I'm making. Grapple?

(1d10)[3]+2, if it's still needed

[gardenphilosoph]

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STR+Brawl = (d10)[10]+6

[gardenphilosoph]

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Damage for the tackle = (d4)[2]x4

Emmett collides to the ground, slipping on the blood as well as throwing himself at the lone Infected in the center of the room. It goes down in a brutal tackle and lands three or four feet away. Emmett spots another infected, recovering from the door slamming into its face. Its nose is crushed and blood runs down its face, staining its clothing. Its fairly big, having once been an overweight male. A name tag identifies him as Al. You spot a small handgun tucked into its pants. It charges you, blood and saliva frothing from its mouth.

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Damnit, you foiled my 'slip on a pool of blood' trick!

If you try to dodge the attack, you have a -2 penalty, since this is your second act in a single round.

[Kuma Da]

Emmett Bower

Emmett scrabbles into a crouch, his hands wiping smears of crimson across the slick floor.

No time to evade. He'll just run you down. Steady yourself. Breathe in. Unfold.

Emmett rises from the tiles, one hand palm out and the other gripping the hatchet. He attempts a grab for the side of the infected's potbelly, attempting to hold the man steady just long enough to split him from groin to chin.

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I'm assuming that I can also attack as my secondary action, since it'd take the same amount of time to evade. I'm also assuming that an axe attack rolls on str+handaxe-2, not dex+axe-2.

(1d10)[4]+6 to hit
(((1d8)[1]+4-armor)x5 for axe damage

[gardenphilosoph]

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Sorry, I should've specified just what happened and rolled. Okay, so as soon as you entered the room, a combat round started. You have Fast Reaction Time, so you automatically went first, which you used to tackle the zombie standing in the center of the room. Now the other two zombies go. I screwed up here - I should've rolled last post.

Zombie you are grappling tries to bite = (d10)[9]+6
Damage if the bite hits = (d4)[1]x2

Zombie from behind tries to punch = (d10)[9]+6
Damage if the punch hits = (d4)[2]x2

Now after they make their move, you can make an infinite number of actions, but since they are secondary, the first gets a -2 penalty, the second gets a -4 penalty, and so on.

You can attack instead of dodge, but it would be a risky choice.

So let's redo that last combat round and let the zombies go where they should've gone. It's probably better for you - any attack with anything uses dexterity and not strength, meaning that you would've missed with that axe. Also, where did you get your axe damage? It would be d8x4, not (d8+4)x5.

So sorry about the confusion.

[gardenphilosoph]

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Also, I neglected to mention that when you roll a 15 or better to hit in combat, it's an exceptional hit and does extra damage, depending on what you got. Your original tackle of the creature in the room was 16, so you got 1 extra damage before applying the multiplier, hitting the zombie for a brutal 16 damage. Unfortunately both my bite and my punch also got 15, giving them the same benefit. They will hit for 4 and 6 damage respectively, instead of the original 2 and 4.

P.S. - Even though your character doesn't know, I'll tell you for your signature. In the garage, you killed one 'zombie' by running it over with the ambulance, and severely wounded another by mule-kicking it (it's rib cage is severely fractured thanks to Emmett). Right now you're up against two more with an axe and a brutal amount of strength behind. Make short work of them, Emmett!

[Kuma Da]

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Okay, I'm now totally confused about where in the turn order this is going. To keep things moving, let's say that if it's after the tackle then I'll still attempt an axe strike. If the caber-tossed zombie is still up and attacking, then it'll go against that one. Feel free to roll for me.

Also, with regards to axe damage, I understand it as ((1d8+str)-armor on the target)x2. That follows the woodaxe formula in the book.

[gardenphilosoph]

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Sorry about the confusion, I've worked things out. Alright, every Turn in combat you get one free offensive move and one free defensive move. Any action beyond that incurs a cumulative -2 penalty. You've attacked this round. Now the other two zombies attack. I'll dodge for you, then another round will start, unless you wanted an extra attack at a -2 penalty. Seen?

Zombie #1 Initiative - (d10)[5]+3
Zombie #2 Initiative - (d10)[5]+3

The reason I've rolled initiative is to see what zombie attacked first, and thus what attack you will attempt to dodge.

[gardenphilosoph]

You struggle to rise from the bloodslicked floor, but the two Infected aren't making it any easier. The one you've tackled to the floor lunges at you, bloody mouth agape, while the one behind the door leaps at you, flailing its arm in a half punch, half swipe.

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Emmett's roll to dodge = (d10)[8]+5

[gardenphilosoph]

You roll sideways, retracting your hand away from the ragged teeth of the wounded Infected, avoiding its bite. You're relieved - shortly before the city's fall, news spread that the disease these things had spread through bites. A sharp pain on your upper back cuts through your sense of relief - the Infected behind you landed a swipe on your shoulder blade, tearing a small gash into your skin with its jagged fingernails.

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Okay, I think we've got combat sorted out. At this point, you either start a new round as normal (so attack), or go for a second attack at a -2 penalty. And remember, it's always DEX to hit. Also, you were right about the axe damage, I forgot that it's slashing. Bite damage is slashing too.

[Kuma Da]

Emmett Bower

Emmett grabs for the downed infected's shoulders, trying to wrestle it into the way of its cohort like a thrashing, snapping body-shield. He brings his hatchet down towards its face once. Twice. Then he risks an underhand swipe at the other creature's ankles.

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I just checked through the rules and I think I could've declared another dodge against the other infected at the standard -2 for extra combat actions. And then I could've attacked after that at -4, but no problem. Emmett's not actually in any danger, and I'd rather work out the issues with the combat system here than in a more fatal melee.

What I'm trying to do in this post is make two follow-up attacks (at -2 and -4, respectively,) and then start the new round to get a third attack.

(1d10)[4]+4
(1d10)[10]+2
(1d10)[9]+6

[gardenphilosoph]

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You're right, I'm sorry, I'm a mess at explaining the rules. Good thing you're a clever one, Kuma Da. So you hit with two of your attacks. I'm going to try to dodge the second one and roll your damage for both of them.

Zombie trying to dodge hatchet aimed at face = (d10)[1]+3

Damage for first hatchet attack = ((d8)[6]x4)x2

Damage for hatchet attack in new round = ((d8)[4]x4)x2

[gardenphilosoph]

Your strength, fueled by the intense drive to survive, hews the downed infected's head in two. Blood and a thick viscous foul-smelling liquid pour out of it's skull cavity, spilling onto your sweatshirt.

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Roll to dodge for the remaining zombie = (d10)[3]+3

And might I say again, Emmett is a BEAST. 48 damage is almost enough to kill two zombies with a single blow! And by the way, your second hit does 40 damage instead of 32, since you rolled a 15.

Question - did you read the part in the book about the rule of 10 and rule of 1? What do you think?

[gardenphilosoph]

The axe blade completely severs through the remaining infected's ankle with a dull crunch and embeds itself into the thing's thigh. Blood spews out of its ears, nose, and mouth as it breathes its last wheezing breaths.

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Congratulations sir, you've just killed two Infected.

[Kuma Da]

Emmett Bower

God. ****.

Levering the corpse off of himself, Emmett stands up and shakes like a dog. He thrusts the handle of the hatchet through a loop in his pants and quickly glances around the back room to make sure no more bodies are hiding in ambush. Once he's content in his search, he kneels down to search the larger infected, taking care to keep bare skin away from its still twitching limbs and jaws.

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Emmett is not a man. He is a heavily armed bull-elephant in a man's clothing. I think you might still be rolling damage incorrectly, though. It should be (1d8+4)x2 on unarmored targets. 1d8 times strength times two is a little absurd. The axe does not amplify the output of his muscles (if only.)

As for the rule of ten and one, I've played in systems that used it before, and it's great for when you're gaming in person. For PbP, though, it slows things down a lot if the players insist on rolling it. I'd suggest keeping it in with the caveat that the DM handles all those bonus rolls.

Finally, in news totally unrelated to this game, what's your take on Lovecraftian spy-dramas? I ask because there's a game of Delta Green opening elsewhere on the forums, and it might still be accepting characters. Didn't know if you'd be interested or not.

[gardenphilosoph]

The corpse whose ankle is missing, Al, is wearing denim overalls over a white work shirt, though it's torn to shreds and covered in a noxious mixture of blood, saliva, and other body fluids. A shattered pair of glasses clings to his face, the shattered glass of the lens embedded in his right eyeball. His jaws and teeth twitch sporadically, but he is dead. A search of his pockets reveal a leather wallet with his driver's license, several business cards, and a handful of cash. In his other pocket are car keys and some loose change, as well as the empty wrapper of a caramel. Tucked into his belt, you find what you were looking for. It's a handgun...you can't tell much more than that.

The other corpse has nothing useful, only the wallet and ephemera of a bygone everyday life.

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Streetwise roll to tell if you can identify the handgun.

Also, I'm calculating the axe damage correctly. It's slashing/stabbing, so it's extra deadly once it has penetrated any defenses, if any. Congratulations Kuma Da, Emmett armed with a hatchet is roughly as deadly as a .45 caliber bullet.

I've given Delta Green a brief read-over, and am sort of shaky on the concept of too much government/big group knowledge of the Mythos. In my mind, it's always sort of a nefarious shadow in the dark, not some resource to be exploited. I do love it taking place in the modern age, though. Lately I've read an excellent book which has inspired me to toy with the ideas of the Outer Gods being self-replicating memes instead of great alien entities, or perhaps both at the same time. Plus, I'm not much of a player. I think I'm too malicious for that.

[Kuma Da]

Emmett Bower

Emmett pockets the gun, wipes his hands on Al's trousers, then calmly marches out of the store.

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Streetwise roll (plus perception or int? I'm assuming perception): (1d10)[8]+5

Also, I totally follow the idea of the elder gods being memes. I mean, that's basically Hastur in a nutshell. When you think about it, life at its earliest was no more than self-replicating chemical sequences. Replace chemicals with ideas and you get some really weird trends repeating themselves.

Of course, I'm not actually proposing that there are proto notion-gods floating around out there, but it would make for a pretty interesting psychological bent on a supernatural game.

[gardenphilosoph]

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It's actually Intelligence with Streetwise, but either way, you pass. It's a .38 Caliber handgun you're carrying. Go ahead and head back to the main thread now. By the way, remember you're covered in blood, saliva, and god knows what else from fighting with the infected.

Yeah, memetic gods really has an awesome appeal in my eyes. You should check out a brilliant book exploring the concept of the evolution of memetic life in a fiction format - it's called the Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. Quite an excellent book. I've wanted to start a game featuring the Cthulhu Mythos as a sort of psychological anomaly/memetic phenomena for ages, but I think it'd be exceedingly difficult to base a game around it. It seems like something more fit for writing. It would need a system based primarily if not solely on character-character interaction, something like Dogs in the Vineyard.

[Kuma Da]

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More than that, I think you'd need a faith/belief mechanic if you were to run it as a game. Writing would probably tell the story naturally, but if that's the route you're gonna embark on then I wish you the best of luck. Mimetic gods is way more audacious a concept than I'd be prepared to tackle.