Jabba decides Luke is just some loser.Luke is dropped into the Rancor pit.
Luke appears to be vastly outclassed. This foe is fearsome and many hit-died.
Yet, due to a giant femur and a clever use of the local environmental features, Luke remains undigested and the Rancor has a giant gate shoved through his rancorous head.
Jabba must thenceforth and thereby devise an alternate form of execution.
(campaign idea: PCs captured. Villain tries to execute PCs with monster. PCs defeat monster. Villain tries to execute them with new monster. PCs fight next monster and probably win. This goes on until PCs are 20th level.)
________________
Anyway, the Rancor fight--this is how a fight should go. You are weak and are supposed to die but you don't because you play smart.
So, I herewithbyforth issue this CHALLENGE in hopes that all will be illumined by its multicolored and bedazzling ludological insight...
Model Luke's fight with the Rancor as it went down in Jedi, in a system of your choice in such a way as to demonstrate that system's features.
Risus? FASERIP? AD&D? WFRP? GURPS? BRP? Burning Wheel? Tunnels and Trolls? Let's see it! Any system incapable of defeating the Rancor is hereby declared invalid and badwrongfun now and for all time.
example:
Kiel Chenier has done it for Type IV as follows. (Kiel I have re-purposed your G+ comment for public consumption without permission. If you for some reason object, speak now)...
Luke is without a weapon, so his unarmed attacks deal 1d4+2 damage.
Round 1:
Luke falls, taking 1d10 damage. He moves back 2 squares.
The Gammorean retreats 4 squares. Fails diplomacy check to be released.
The Rancor moves 4 squares. Uses Bite on the Gammorean (4d8+6 damage). Gammorean is killed.
Round 2:
Luke moves back 2 squares. He picks up a bone (1d6+5 damage), and readies an attack action when the Rancor attacks him.
The Rancor moves 5 squares and uses 'grab attack' on Luke (1d8 damage, target is restrained). Attack is successful.
Luke jams the bone in the Rancor's mouth. (Jamming a bone in a mouth would either be an attack on the monster's Reflex, or just a dexterity check. Either way, would take a standard action.) Luke is no longer restrained. Rancor is immobilized. Save ends.
Round 3:
Luke takes 1d10 falling damage. He moves 1 square under the rock outcropping, giving him cover. He makes a stealth check (+2 from the cover).
Rancor has no ranged attacks. Fails his Perception check. Saves against immobilization.
Round 4:
Luke holds his action until the Rancor attacks.
Rancor uses 'grab attack'. Fails.
Luke picks up a rock as a minor action (1d6+3 damage). Attacks the Rancor with it (hits). Then moves 6 squares to the exit. He incurs an opportunity attack from the Rancor (Rancor misses).
Round 5:
Luke uses a minor action to open the inner door. He makes a strength check to break the bars (fails).
The Rancor moves towards Luke (can only move two squares due to his size, squeezing through the doorway).
Round 6:
Luke picks up another rock as a minor action. He throws it at the door controls, making a dexterity check (Natural 20).
The door shuts on top of the Rancor (5d10+10 damage. Maximum because of the critical hit).
Rancor falls below 0 hit points. Dies.
It was over in six rounds.
As originally written, Luke is a 4th level Jedi and the Rancor's a 3rd level brute--but when I pointed out that the Rancor has to outclass the PC or it's no fun Kiel said you could just scale up the gate damage and make the Rancor 2-4 levels higher than Luke and it'd all still work out.
Your turn...
42 comments:
I don't think anything matters to the Rancor. He looks very happy at the moment.
Round 1:
Luke falls, taking 1d6 damage.
The Gammorean makes a social combat appeal, fails to land the appeal.
The Rancor attacks the Gammorean and hits, rolling 1d6+2 damage scoring 3. The Rancor has a size modifier of 5 and deals 15 damage. The Gammorean is killed.
Round 2:
Luke spends a fate point to declare there is a bone nearby (a reasonable possibility) picks up a bone (1d8 damage), Luke has higher initiative so does not yet have to declare his action.
The Rancor launches a grapple attack on Luke (target is restrained). Attack is successful.
Luke jams the bone in the Rancor's mouth as a "knock down" to break free from the rancor. Luke is no longer restrained. Rancor is "Off Balance".
Luke takes 2 trample damage from being too close to the rancor.
Round 3:
Luke tries to hide under the rock outcropping. He makes a stealth check and gains an epic success.
Rancor does not bother to make a spot check, instead regains balance.
Round 4:
Luke has won initiative again and decides not to act beyond picking up a rock with one hand.
Rancor attempts a grapple, luke succeeds in defense roll. As a warrior with combat tricks luke rolls a lucky number and gains a riposte.
Luke attacks the Rancor with the rock, the rancor fails the defense roll, this deals 4 damage, not enough to cause permanent injury to the size 5 rancor. Luke then takes his action and cuts past the Rancor to leave the area, forcing him to make an agility check to avoid trample damage and moves through the inner door.
Round 5:
Luke makes a very hard (-10) strength check to break the bars (fails).
The Rancor moves towards Luke, leaving his area to enter Luke's.
Round 6:
Luke wins initiative and picks up a rock . He throws it at the Rancor, missing but rolling a lucky number.
Luke uses this opportunity attack to have the rock fly towards the door control. This attack succeeds with an epic success (20) The door shuts on top of the Rancor who fails a saving throw, this deals d6x10 damage (size 10 door).
Rancor takes 50 damage, divided by 5. This eats all 10 body points, causing the rancor to die.
It was over in six rounds.
@Zak
I don't mind in the slightest. Anything that gets my idiot ramblings attention is fine by me.
Also, mah brog iz a thang too http://dungeonsdonuts.blogspot.com/
Away from books, and rough around the edges, so I'm fudging the numbers here -- as we'll see, the actual vaules will rarely matter.
This is long, but so many of the numbers and contests are extremes that the fight would actually take only about six or seven minutes in real-time with anyone with passing familiarity with the system.
GURPS
1)
Luke attempts to use Suggest on Jabba. Jabba resists (Strong Will +(a shit-tonne because he got tons of points from the Sessile disadvantage -- piss-poor cgi counts as Never Happened, Mr. Lucas)). Jabba uses the Bard skill to impress his spectators ("Ooh, he resisted the Jedi!").
2)
Luke attempts Intimidation. Massive failure here -- either the difference in the contests was huge or Luke rolled a critical failure or Jabba rolls a massive success -- remember that obscene Will score from Jabba the Min-maxer.*
3)
TK grab a blaster from Luke -- there's where he put those points! -- combined with Fast-Draw. I'm guessing he fails the Fast-Draw roll or he fails to win a contest between his Fast-Draw (Blaster) versus the Gammorean's grapple attempt, which makes sense since the Fast-Draw roll was probably at a -3 or so bc of the unusual positioning.
4)
Luke either didn't buy Danger Sense ("Han's player bought it, so I'll be fine -- wait, our first mission is to rescue who?!") or blew his IQ roll to activate it. Thus, he's completely oblivious to the trap door below him. (Ignoring C3P0 is probably flavor, but it could be a failed Perception (Hearing) roll.) And he failed his Architecture and/or Engineering rolls to find it (made in secret by the GM -- and those skills are obviously at default, and at a hefty penalty). It should be clear to all concerned now that but for a hideous number of points in Destiny and Psionics (and Secret Advantage (Ally) and Allies and Patron) on Luke's part, Lando would be the highest-level character in the party.
But we digress.
Gammorean fails his DX roll to stay upright after having grabbed Luke. No one cares. He falls into the pit.
5)
Luke falls. I completely forgot how and, luckily, youtube hasn't killed every clip here. Luke and the guard fall down a chute for tiny (less than 1d -- 1d6 of course, this is GURPS) falling damage and Luke makes his Acrobatics roll to land on his feet out of a roll, anyway, which would have negated the damage from the small (5 foot) fall if there were any.
6)
Luke backs up from the Rancor. I'm not sure about the blocking here, but it doesn't matter much b/c the Rancor's reach and Move means that a "Step and. . ." maneuver puts him in reach of each entity in the room every turn. There is literally nowhere to run. Gammorean guard runs away in a different direction, making a Quick Contest between Fast Talk and the outside-guard's will -- who has a massive bonus from Jabba's successful use of Intimidate. Indeed, the GM could justifiably run that as Fast Talk (Gammorean) vs. Intimidate (Jabba). Jabba's still minmaxing the social, so that's an utter failure no matter how it's adjudicated. And it wouldn't have mattered anyway; it's unlikely Gammy could have pulled himself through the window he ran to even if its grill was opened by a kind soul outside.
This takes around 3 turns -- the Rancor is taking its time because, well, do you rush dinner?
7)
Rancor attacks Gammorean; animal bites are at DX, animals have DX of around 12-14. Gammorean Dodges at Move -- has a Move of around 4 (Gammoreans have a racial Speed penalty). A 4 or less on 3d versus a 13 or less on 3d? Gammorean unsurprisingly fails. The Rancor's bite counts as a grapple and his lifting strength is greater than the Gammorean's weight by an awful lot so off the ground the Gammorean goes. The bite damage is probably in the high 2d/low 3d range, but it doesn't matter; being grappled, the Gammorean doesn't have the ST or DX to escape (it's a contest against the Rancor's ST, which is at least around 30 given the height -- humans average 10, with buff humans being 14) and he's being constricted for IMPAILING damage each round (damage doubled after it gets through armor), and the GM rules that some -- say, half -- of that damage is applied to vitals or to the head which net triples the damage -- what I'm saying here is dead in three rounds (seconds) of screaming unhappy.
8)
Luke sees a bone and grabs it. He had at least four seconds to look for one and there's nothing else in the room besides bones, so the GM would be kind of a jerk to make him roll Perception for it -- it's as big as his torso. Iirc, it's a more-or-less balanced weapon so doesn't need to be readied once weilded. The Rancor Steps and -- (note that a Rancor's "Step" maneuvers are for a lot more than one hex, given its size) -- attacks with a claw for a grapple/claw attack. This is kinda cheesy here because, again, there's nowhere to run, so even if Luke dodges (he can't parry or block -- that's absurd here), the Rancor will just keep rolling attacks and will likely take multiple attacks per turn, taking penalties on subsequent attacks with no worries at all. Indeed, he most likely makes an All-Out Attack with no thought to defense because, seriously, he's the fucking Rancor. So Luke blows a Dodge, but maybe misses getting clawed (best adjudicated by noting the degree of failure -- not strictly in the rules, but it's what I would do) but is still grabbed and is being crushed every round. Not much damage here, though; the Rancor is not trying to squeeze him because then he gets all the juice on his hands and that's wasteful.
So that's around 2 turns (2 seconds) of attack. Again, because the Dodge rolls will inevitably fail and the attacks would succeed, this would take around 10 seconds of real-life time to adjudicate.
9)
Luke makes a Broadsword roll (defaults from Force Sword, a.k.a. Lightsaber-4, iirc) -- a rather harsh default. If lightsabers have some perceivable weight when activated, I'd make that a Lightsaber-2 roll instead. But either way, Luke makes it and jams the bone into the Rancor's mouth. About 3 seconds of methodical pacing from the Rancor, 1 second for Luke's maneuver.
10)
The Rancor is most likely a scavenger -- actually, most large carnivores are heavy scavengers irl on Earth -- who does predation when he's lucky. Given his size, little planning is needed for him to be a successful predator. We'll put his animal intelligence on the bottom-end: IQ 3. Thus, when he gets a bone in his mouth, he drops his new chew toy and worries about the bone. This is actually fairly reasonable, though: again, chew-toy has literally nowhere to run and he's never ever had a problem grabbing and eating chew toys before, so why should today be any different? He screams for a round because he's pissed (if your lunch had a bone in it, wouldn't you be pissed?) and breaks it -- straight Thrust damage versus the bone's HT (which is very low -- he did likely eat the thing that once contained the bone, so the bone itself is no problem).
This takes three to five seconds. It doesn't matter much. The Rancor is setting the pace here and he doesn't care to do things quickly. Note that "empty" rounds where the Rancor does nothing and Luke waits to react to the Rancor are not adjudicated either because, well, that's when the GM is describing Rancor drama. (If the Rancor were human he'd seriously be using jazz hands at this point. It was a bone, get over it, it happens.)
11)
Luke hides under a rock. This hiding place sucks. The Rancor probably already knows about it. This is his dining room. He lives here. And he can smell Luke, even if he can't see him -- and, seriously, he probably can. The GM may not even require a sense roll. He reaches for his lunch and tries to start to pry him out (a series of DX rolls needing, I'd say, five cumuliative successes) and Luke hits him with a rock for thrust damage -- probably about a 1d, which doesn't get much through naturally thick skin (DR 2ish) but hurts like a dickens." Seriously, what is up with lunch today?" says the Rancor, spending two turns yelling at the lunch people upstairs to send better lunch. They're lunch people, what else could they possibly be doing besides making lunch, and they mess up lunch?!
12)
Luke runs while the Rancor is yelling. Rancor loses track of Luke for a second. Then he sees him because he turns around and there is nothing else to see. Rancor is in no hurry. Remember how many places to run there are in his dining room? Rancor tells lunch to stop not being lunch -- that's probably Savoir Faire -- but since the Rancor is an unintelligent animal, that comes out as "RAWR." Rancor carefully approaches Luke at half-Move because he doesn't want anymore stupid stuff to happen. Luke takes the Wait maneuver, then tosses a rock (DX-3 or Throwing) at the portcullis controls. Success -- the door falls, hitting the Rancor.
First off, the door is equal to the Rancor in size -- mostly -- so his movement is impeded. But the door has a huge amount of HP, which means a huge amount of damage, even though the falling distance was only about 10 yards. A 1000 HP door still does about 15d at that height, and more importantly, weighs so much that the Rancor can't get up, which means that the Rancor is taking damage to the neck every round AND suffocating and is probably stunned from the first attack. The Rancor takes around 40 damage to the neck, which is almost inevitably vitals for its species (which could double damage) but, either way, it's taking about 5d every turn to its spine. . . and the damage may have paralyzed it on the initial hit, depending on its physiology. (There are no crit tables for Rancors in GURPS).
13)
Rancor monster trainer fails his Will roll and cries like a baby. Jabba loses composure (blows an Acting-4 roll) which reverses the effect of his earlier Performance (Bard) success. He's losing the crowd. The fix: bigger spectacle needed.
There was probably about 10 turns of actual dice rolling here, with lots of extended actions eating into time, where nearly all of the rolls/skill checks outside of the first few and one of the very last ones being near-complete fait acompli. Five to ten minutes of real-time playthrough or so, which tracks pretty well with the real time clip (around seven minutes). This writeup is long because I babble on keyboards while exhausted ; you could do half of this diceless in four minutes with a canny player.
If this seemed like a one-sided fight due to the fuck-you die roll situations ("you can't really dodge, there's nowhere to go"), that's because it is. The Rancor is a puzzle monster, and any GM throwing a PC into this situation is either playing with a) an extremely skillful player in a relationship of significant mutual trust, b) a player willing to remake a character for little cause, or c) a Gygaxian power trip that's about to seriously piss off his group. . . unless Luke simply had a crap-ton more super-powers that he forgot to use. (It's called, "power creep" guys, not "power break-the-sound-barrier.") And, finally, the slow, plodding pace of the Rancor is appropriate for a puzzle-monster. "Figured out how to defeat me yet? Oooooo-kay, ready or not, I'm comin' to eaaaaaaaat yooooooou. . ."
*Btw, the points from downgrading ST and taking Sessile come back to haunt him when he's choked to death by a skinny near-naked chick.
@sekhmet
Beautiful. That deserves its own diorama in The Museum of Crunchy RPG Design.
Are we talking writing this up in adventure notes, or dealing with it once a player says "I look around for any bones or poles..."?
If I were doing it (regardless of system), the monster would be an HP-less moving hazard in a particular area, or a series of save-or-die reactions/contested DEX rolls or something on the part of the player to avoid getting grabbed (and then save-or-die to avoid getting gobbled).
@huth
That way removes the fun, so far as I can see. The player has to think "oh fuck, I have to fight this thing?" and then figure out an outside the box not-normal-combat solution.
As for how to write it up, you've got 3 examples already. There you go.
That way removes the fun, so far as I can see. The player has to think "oh fuck, I have to fight this thing?" and then figure out an outside the box not-normal-combat solution.
Why wouldn't they think that?
Although, the last time this came up in a cthulhu game (fighting some star-spawn), I did give the limbs attacking the players (giant tentacles) HP. However, the way I see it, the abstract total-body HP doesn't really make sense if you can't conceptualize a hit that would smoosh or run through the monster all at once. It's like the HP for the spiked pit's walls. The whole thing is only important if you have siege weapons along with you, but the HP of one spike might matter. So, in the Rancor example, doing damage to the Rancor's hand would help you resist being grabbed (easier save), while trying to hamstring the Rancor makes it easier to run away from it within the limited confines. I'm trying to think of other things Luke might try in the pit, like climb up the Rancor's back, leap onto the ceiling grate, grab a Jawa's weapon/grenade.
As for how to write it up, you've got 3 examples already. There you go.
I meant whether the hypothetical situation was planning the encounter, or how to run it when something you've planned as a regular combat encounter hits lateral player thinking.
@huth
why wouldn't they think that?
if the PCs are -sure- there's a way out and they are not just fighting the unstoppable monster because of some wrong turn they made somewhere above in the decision tree, then my feeling is I'm doing it wrong.
The Rancor should seem, at first blush, to both player and PC, undefeatable. Noticing resources should come next.
---
answer to second question:
whichever answer gets you typing faster.
Wushu:
The player is playing Luke, a character with the traits: Hotshot Pilot 5, Jedi 4, Farmboy 3.
GM: Jabba then opens the trapdoor beneath your feet, sending you and the Gammorean plummeting down a chute into the Rancor's pit.
Player: Luke rolls as he lands, and sweeps onto his feet, sending a spray of sand into the air.
GM: The Rancor's door starts sliding up. Behind it the Rancor is revealed. The Gammorean wants none of it, and tries to climb back up the chute. But the Rancor isn't about to let its meal escape. In two large steps, it lumbers forward, grabs the Gammorean, and then chomps it down.
Okay, let's begin the fight. I think the Rancor will count as a Nemesis. Dice limit is 5. Do you wanna start?
Player: Sure. Luke backs away from the Rancor while the Rancor chomps down on the Gammorean. Glancing backwards, he spots a huge bone, easily the size of himself. He runs over and grabs it, just as the Rancor starts striding towards him.
I thinks that counts as 5 details.
GM: Nah, 4 details. So you get 4 dice.
The Rancor strides forward, reaches out on of its humongous arms and grabs you, lifting you towards its mouth. 3 details, 3 dice.
Player: I'm rolling against Jedi, 2 dice to Yang, 2 to Ying. And.. they all succeed.
GM: The Rancor rolls all dice as Yang, against Rancor. It only has the Rancor trait, but it has the value 5 *grin*. And.. all dice succeed. You lose one Chi, the Rancor loses two.
Player: Luke prepares the bone as the Rancor hoists him upwards. Sweat beads his brow, but there is a look of determination on his face. Closer, and closer, he moves, and then WHAM he thrusts the bone into the Rancor's maw, jamming it open. 5 details?
GM: *nods* 5. The Rancor roars and lets go of Luke. It is clearly unhappy. But in the long run the bone is no match for its brute strength. The bone splinters as the Rancor snaps its jaws closed. 4 details. All to Yang dice.
Player: Crap. Uhm.. 1 dice to Yang, 4 to Ying. And.. 3 Ying dice succeeds.
GM: Which matches the 3 Yang successes from the Rancor. No damage to either of you.
Player: Okay.. Luke lands on the ground and quickly scoots under a knee-high overhang in the wall. The Rancor tries to reach him, but the crack is too small. This goes on for a little while, before Luke seizes a rock, and smacks the Rancor's hand. While the Rancor is occupied by the pain, Luke runs for the door.
GM: That's at least 5 details. Meanwhile the Rancor roars out in pain from the smack Luke gave it. Luke reaches the door, and slams the door control, only to find the way blocked by a crude grating. The Rancor, now mighty pissed, strides towards the small enclosure.
You don't get to end the fight prematurely.
Player: Well, I do have 5 dice. How is the Rancor placing his dice?
GM: *smirks* You would like to know, wouldn't you? Well, I'll tell you. All 4 dice to Yang.
Player: Darn.. well.. I'll go all out Five dice Yang. And.. four of them succeed!
GM: Lucky bastard. The Rancor succeeds on three dice. So you take another three Chi damage, and the Rancor takes four. That leaves you at -1 Chi, and the Rancor at -1 Chi. You win ties so, you get to narrate a Coup de Grace.
Player: Well, Luke is stuck. There is no way out. Then he spots the door control to the huge door that the Rancor was behind originally. As the Rancor ducks under the door, Luke picks up a rock and hurls it at the control. The door slams down on the Rancor's spine, throwing the Rancor to the ground. The Rancor reaches out a spindly arm towards Luke, and then with a last groan dies. And then the door goes up behind him, and the guards drag him away.
First, you just gonna sit there while the rancor makes a move on your woman?
Second, any system can replicate any scene from a movie. It is more a question of how easily can the scene be replicated.
@sekhmet - nice, although the Gamorean should Dodge at 7 (Move 4, and Dodge is 3+Move) and it's not a contested roll at all.
Plus personally I wouldn't have the Rancor trying to claw at Luke, just grab him - an Attack roll to Grapple, using DX or Wrestling if he's got it. The Rancor doesn't actually slice anyone up with his claws in the scene, just grab them and eat them.
But otherwise a nice writeup (and @Zak, nice picture and fun post).
Grumpy Celt: speaking for myself I'm not interested in 'how easily' so much as just 'how'. In Wushu, it's a fairly standard boss battle; in GURPS, a puzzle monster; etc. I'm finding it very interesting! Really cool post, great idea.
Also, if Sekhmet wants to write any other film-to-game conversions I'd be happy to read them. I'm in danger of being converted to GURPS. Suddenly rules-crunch seems fun again.
Deleted previous comment to fix one teeny typo. Geeze, blogger, get an edit function.
@Peter:
Ah, I am revealing my old-school 3rd ed heritage. Of course, the +3 mod from 4th ed. Now, as I said, Gammy is pretty much still fucked solid here. . . but hey, inaccurate is inaccurate.
I was jibbering last night so I didn't make it clear: the grab was at DX. I am concerned that the rather nasty claws might impale Luke in the attempt even though the Rancor doesn't want that. So it's not a contest, just an acknoledgement that if a backhoe operator tries to pick you up with the bucket you might get the teeth right in your head even if that's not what anyone wants.*
The best thing about rules granularity is that it actually encourages you to stop doing math. If someone (not a mook) gets blown away in the chest by a magnum in Feng Shui and our question is "Is that guy still fighting?", we start doing subtraction, cause, well, it's just one hit. If that happens in GURPS, the GM describes the guy going down and that's that. No sense in wasting our beautiful minds on what cruel, merciless crunch makes a nigh-inevitable outcome.
*The next time you watch the Rancor monster scene, think about hillibillies playing with construction equipment.**
**Holy crap, that was actually a King of the Hill episode!
Isn't FUDGE still the Mac-Daddy of abstract? Anyone wanna give that a whirl? I'm interested in the other "fuzzy" systems (like FATE/Wushu above) will do.
P.S. I linked to the video game version ("The Forced Unleashed") of this fight. Ignoring how, um, silly they've made force powers, I wonder how many of us would prefer a puzzle-monster Rancor to a hit-point attrition fest. . .
P.S.S. -- If the Rancor is Standard Operating Procedure for Wushu bosses, I gotta do more than skim my copy of Wushu cause that's kinda badass. . .
Quoth Arthur Fisher:
In response to +Zak Smith's challenge to create the Rancor fight in various systems, I deem Shadowrun to be the pervue of low level PC's fighting impossible odds using various junk around them. Comments and critique welcome. Shouts of "I hate 4E" and "FASA am best!" will be dismissed as dish-water dull.
For the purposes of this exercise, Luke is a starting level Mystic Adept and the Rancor has the same stats as a Western Dragon from SR4A.
Luke is attempting a Negotiation Roll against Jaba. This is a series of Extended Tests. As Luke spends far less time jibber jabbering with folks over the price of space junk than Jaba, he has less skill. Due to circumstance modifiers(Hostile NPC, desired result is Annoying to PC, NPCs outnumber PC, etc.) Luke's dice pool is greatly reduced, so he has fewer rolls than Jaba in the Extended Tests. This means Luke figures out this social test won't end well, so he casts Magic Fingers on some guard's pistol.
Initiative is rolled. The Gamoran goes first and roll it's Unarmed Combat to subdue Luke. Luke goes next and breaks free of the Gamoran. Jaba goes next and sends a Command from his commlink which opens up his floor trap.
No saves are made in Shadowrun. The floor falls out from under you means the floor falls out from under you. Luke and the Gamoran fall.
Luke makes his Gymnastics roll and does not end up Prone after the fall. The Gamoran has no Gymnastics, so default to his terrible Agility and fails. The Gamoran is prone. Both he and Luke roll Body + ½ Impact Armor and survive the controlled fall.
Lando makes a Seduction test against Leia against a penalty because he can't speak.
Jaba moves his floating concrete bed over the floor trap despite the fact that the way up is blocked by steel bars. Presumably this is a Health & Safety issue.
The GM talks for a while, describing “Oh crap, it's a Rancor!”
...
The Rancor uses it's Fear power. Luke succeeds and does nothing while the Gamoran fails and attempts to disarm the maglock on the trap door so it can run away.
Initiative is rolled. Luke goes first, but holds his action because he has never faced a Rancor before and doesn't know what it's capable of. Gamoran goes next and fails his attempt to disarm the maglock. Rancor goes next and rolls it's Unarmed Combat to subdue the Gamoran. The Gamoran resists with Reaction + Unarmed Combat, but the Rancor's hits exceed his own, so he is immobile. Luke is still holding action. The Rancor uses it's Natural Weapon Bite(it needn't roll as it has subdued it's enemy) and gets 6 hits. That's 16 boxes at -2 AP. Gamoran rolls Body + Impact Armour -2, gets 3 hits and is unconscious. He has one round before he bleeds to death. Luke is still holding action. The Rancor uses it's bite again and swallows the Gamoran whole.
Luke finally makes a decision and grabs a nearby femur bone and readies his attack. The Rancor moves in to attack Luke and rolls to subdue him. Unarmed Combat + Agility vs. Reation plus + Exotic Weapon(Bone). The Rancor succeeds with 2 net successes. Luke gets 1 more Initiative pass than the Rancor and rolls to move be able to move within the Rancor's grasp. Luke's Unarmed Combat roll gets 3 net hits, so he is no longer immobile. Back to the top and Luke goes again. Luke has no Exotic Weapon(Bone) skill, so he defaults to his considerable Agility -1. Luke can tell the Rancor has a crazy high Natural Armour rating, so he makes a called shot to the Rancor's mouth to avoid it's Armour. Luke takes -4 and rolls. The Rancor rolls it's Reaction + Unarmed Combat to Dodge. Luke gets more net hits, so the attack lands. The Rancor rolls it's Body + Impact Armor and while it gets enough hits to negate the damage, it also botches because over half it's roll are 1's. The GM decides the bone is stuck in the Rancor's mouth.
Luke decides to use his Infiltration skill and rolls to hide in the shadows of the cave. Rancor then spends a turn to shatter the bone with a Strength roll, does and begins to search for Luke. He rolls and fails despite his Enhanced Senses(smell) power. The Rancor, being a dual natured creature, then Assenses Luke on the astral plane and finds his hiding hole. Luke grabs a nearby rock and readies his attack, The Rancor moves in, but gets hit by another called shot from Luke.
At this point Luke realizes that none of his attacks are getting past the Rancor's Body and Armor score even with the called shots, so he dashes for the exit.
Luke hits the maglock button and lifts the door, only to reveal the way is blocked by steel bars whose controls are on the other side.
The Rancor is too mesmerized by all the what-not going on in the astral, so it stops assensing. Luke struggles with the steels bars, but can't expect to bend something with a Structure Rating of 13 and Armor of 16. Wait. Structure Rating, that's it!
The Rancor moves in to attack. Luke grabs another nearby rock and holds action. The Rancor charges, but Luke Interrupts the action by throwing the rock at the maglock panel. Agility + Throwing succeeds. The maglock door attempts to close, doing 12P falling damage on the Rancor in it's way.
...
The Rancor rolls it's Body + ½ Impact Armor against the falling damage of the door. While this small amount of damage isn't more than the Rancor's Body, any more than 10P does automatic Knockdown. The Rancor is now prone. It attempts to get up, but cannot overcome the structure Rating + Armor of the steel maglock door.
The door, however, must follow it's Script. It has been given the Command to close by it's control panel. It's sensors say it is not closed, so it must continue to power it's magnetic re-tractors until the door is sealed. The Rancor continues to take damage until either the door is closed or until it can shatter the door. While the maglock cannot defeat the Rancor's Body rating to cut through it, it continues to do damage until the Rancor is dead.
Lando succeeds and Leia doesn't “go back.”
I have a home-brew system which I have been using for awhile. My brother has convinced me to call it "DON'T ROLL A ONE!"
So in DRO, the rancor scene might go like this...
(First I guess I should say Luke's Stats go like this:
Combat - d12
Endurance & Willpower - d10
Reflexes & Agility - d20
Perception & Cunning - d8)
---
Luke uses the Force on Jabba's gaurds - rolls WILLPOWER and gets a 6 (normal TN of 5) success.
Luke is brought before Jabba, DM asks for a PERCEPTION roll, scores a 3 (soft failure)-doesn't see the pit trap.
Luke attempts to use the force on Jabba; the GM rules that Jabba's strong mind makes him
"neigh impossible" to mind control (the TN is 11 on a WILLPOWER roll; dice open end) - scores a 7 - it doesn't work.
Luke uses the force to grab a blaster hoping to hold Jabba Hostage (or something) DM calls
for a COMBAT roll as gaurds close in - rolls only a 4 (soft failure) so the DM rules that the guards are man-handling him just as...
Jabba opens the trap door and the DM calls for a REFLEXES roll - Luke rolls a 3, a soft
failure (2-4) so falls into the pit but is not significantly hurt in the landing.
The DM decides it would be totally sweet if the Gammorean who was grappling with him also falls in. (Minion NPCs are the playthings of the DM at all times)
...
The DM describes how the Rancor comes forth and tells the player that it looks "nearly
impossible" to hurt without a powerful weapon. The DM also describes how the Gamorrean tries to scramble up the shute but is snatched up and devoured by the Rancor.
Luke looks around and finds a huge bone to wield as a club and decides to tempt fate and go for a COMBAT roll (neigh impossible TN of 11) - rolls only 4 (soft failure).
The DM decides the rancor has snatched luke up and with an evil grin askes the player what he wants to do to save his skin!
Luke decides to use the bone to jam into the creature's mouth so it cannot close - DM calls for a roll of CUNNING to time it just right and Luke rolls a 6 - success (TN was 5+)
The DM describes the rage of the rancor and how Luke is dropped.
The DM decides that the creature slowly snaps the bone with its powerful jaws - then asks what the player wants to do as the Rancor closes in again.
Luke's player asks if he can hide while the Rancor was raging - DM says ok, roll a PERCEPTION check. Luke rolls a 2 - soft failure.
The DM describes how Luke sees a low rocky overhang which he scurries into, but from here there is no escape! The Rancor is now attempting to claw Luke out of the shallow crevice!
Luke's player is frantic and asks if there are any other features in the pit.
The DM (foregoing any call for a PERCEPTION roll) explains how he can see a small blast-door in the dark chaimber from which the rancor emerged.
Luke decides to make a break for it but the DM says he has no way out due to the Rancor's
huge claws scrabbling at the opening of the crevic.
Luke asks if he can bash the claw with a rock, just enough to startle the Rancor even though it has little chance of doing much real damage. The DM says sure and asks for a COMBAT check - luke gets a 9 and the Rancor roars and momentarily rears up, leaving the crevice opening.
Luke decides to make a dash for it - the DM calls for an AGILITY roll and with an evil grin reminds him he needs to roll "anything but a one!" - Luke rolls a 15 and makes it to the door well before the slow rancor.
Luke opens the blast door but there is only another gate beyond! The DM describes how the rancor is lumbering towards Luke and asks what Luke does next.
The player asks where the controls are for that "huge fucking gate thing" - which the DM
describes but mentions that by now the rancor is close enough to the gate and the panel that it might grab Luke if he moves up to it.
Luke decides to throw a rock (fossilized rancor crap?) at the door button. The DM calls for a COMBAT roll - an 8 (normal TN of 5) success!
The DM decides that this closes the gate down
on the rancor just before it can close in on Luke!
An number of gaurds come in and OVERWHELM the unarmed and exhausted Jedi; hauling him away.
---
Notes:
- I focused mostly on the mechanics above, but really the system works best when the DM focuses on immersive details and putting exciting dilemmas in front the players at every turn.
- Likewise the DM should promt the players for details about how the characters respond to danger and interpret dice consequences based on these details.
- The DM did not make a single dice roll - thats just the way my system works. Monster/Encounter difficulty is usually controlled by the number of dice rolls needed to pass the encounter (each roll increases the risk of rolling a 1). Of course the DM can end encounters for other reasons - such as if the players come up with great ideas.
- Had luke rolled a 1 (a hard failure) at any time in the pit he would have been gobbled up (or at least injured - based on an injury roll).
- Soft failures (2-4) are an invitation for a DM to put another dilemma in front of the players - toy with them for a bit.
@rubberduck
Sweet! Now I understand Wushu!
@ravenconspiracy
does the GM ever roll in your system? or just not in this case?
@Zak
No rolls in this case - there aren't normally contested rolls and the dice mechanics for success or failure are normally rolls made by the player.
Some more info if interested:
Like I mentioned, difficulty is generally controlled by the number of rolls or hits needed to pass the danger or defeat the enemies. (Each dice roll is a chance to roll a 1!)
As the DM I do roll dice all the time but usually this is on custom charts, random encounters, NPC dispositions, etc. Also, I might make secret checks on the players behalf. Rarely, there will be a situation where an NPC/monster will get a roll for something but its never the case that if the monster rolls high the PC dies.
During action sequences I find the lack of dice-rolling on my side frees me up to focus on the consequences of player actions and the dice rolls (good or bad) and weaving it all together into an exciting sequence.
Keeping life-or-death rolls entirely in the players hands has a lot of advantages and the players all know that the BASIC dice roll mechanic works like this (most rolls are essentially a tarted up saving throw with both hard and soft failures possible):
5+ (Success) I (the DM) am your character's eager accomplice and I will cheer you on with your success.
2-4 (Soft Failure) I may toy with your character a bit, probably complicate the situation and give your character yet another dilemma to deal with. Also, non-lethal attacks & effects will often fully effect players on a soft failure roll!
1(FAILURE) You are now my plaything! During action sequences the consequence of this roll will probably be injury or possibly death (depending on the attack/danger there might be an simple injury chart involved, something bizarre and horrible might happen to your character, or rarely, if the threat is particularly nasty, I might just rule your character dead)
One advantage is kind of a "feeling" thing; I never have that moment where the monster rolls max damage and a character dies and the player might feel cheated. When a character dies it is almost always after the player rolls two big fat natural 1s in a row themselves - generally players tend take that kind of thing better. (Of course none of this is an issue in the mythical land where all of your players are angels)
I'm still play-testing my ideas but I'm approached designing this system from my needs as a DM: Action & Adventure focused, speed of play, simplicity, flexibility, lots of improvisation, little-to-no mechanics book-keeping on the part of the player or DM, both soft and hard failure circumstances, etc.
I feel like a lot of these examples rely on hot rolling by the player and crap rolling by the GM. You should give bonus points if the scene can be replicated using average/statistically likely rolls/card pulls/whatnot. I liked the example with fate points since you could definitely use that to offset poor rolling, but as a limited resource it keeps tension high.
@ Blue Gargantua
I think you bring up a good point.
Personally I don't like fate points or plot chips or whatnot but I do like systems which are likely to support interesting sequences.
I ran the math on my system and the average of the dice result probabilities runs to approximately 50.29%
@_@
My systems of choice for Star Wars are Savage Worlds and PDQ#. So I'll give both a shot. Savage Worlds works right out of the box so I'll do that first. Admittedly winning against a creature like a rancor is going to require some impressive rolling by Luke but we can also assume he's burning through his Bennies pretty fast too.
Intro:
Luke falls into the pit, the fall doesn't do enough damage but it may Shake him (he's got high Spirit though and recovers quickly). The scene with the rancor and gammorean is basically the GM laying the scene out and showing Luke's player what's waiting for him. No need to roll for this.
Round 2:
Luke grabs the large bone but it's not a very effective weapon (assuming Luke has average strength it's probably 1d6+1d8 vs. the Rancor's toughness of 15 or so.) The Rancor makes an attack at luke and rolls well, beaint Luke's Parry score. However, Luke uses a Benny and makes a Vigor roll to soak the damage. He's grabbed but not injured or Shaken.
Round 2:
Luke uses an Agility Trick (he's got at least a d8) against the rancor (slow, claymation monsters have only a d4). Luke gets a Raise on the Trick and successfully Shakes the monster.
Round 3:
The rancor makes its Spirit roll, snapping the bone, but loses its action for that turn. Luke takes the time to pick up a rock. Depending on how you interpret Luke's abilities he may also take the opportunity to use a Force power to boost his strength or Fighting skill.
Round 4:
Luke wins initiative this time and strikes the Rancor with the rock. The base damage is pitiful (1d6+1d4) assuming he's not using the force. However he rolls well on his Fighting (he gets +2 to hit the Rancor due to its size) which adds an extra d6. With 2d6+1d4 he manages a good damage roll with at least one exploding dice and inflicts enough damage to Shake the rancor but not enough to Wound it.
Round 5:
Luke runs for the door, yanks uselessly at the gate. He tries a Notice roll to find anything useful in the environment. Success, big shiny button! Meanwhile the Rancor again makes it's Spirit roll to unshake but loses it's action.
Round 6:
Luke readies his rock, waits till the rancor is in position then makes a Throwing roll (probably TN 6 for such a small target). The falling gate inflicts (lets say) 5d6 damage and Aces several times. The Rancor spends both it's bennies to soak but rolls crap and ends up straight to incapacitated.
@sekhmet - I hear you on the backhoe operator, but if you give the Rancor DX 12+, he's pretty agile so I don't think you can have it both ways. If you want to, though, 4e will let you give him a clumsy grab that occasionally spears people pretty easily. A grab with an occasional uncontrolled claw followup is simple enough. :)
Interestingly, I'm noticing that the more abstract games rely on status effects or specific states ("shaken," "immobilized") to adjudicate the scene, especially the bone-in-mouth bit, but granular systems either conclude that it was a function of the die rolls (Shadowrun) or literally the nature of the beast (myself with GURPS).
@Peter:
Sure, I can roll with that. Keep in mind that an overexcited victim could impale himself -- but, then again, Luke is a badass, so it's not likely. Perhaps only on a critical failure on Luke's part, then.
@Zak S:
I didn't catch that the door might have been programmed to keep closing no matter what. That would definately make it a nasty thing to have fall on you. Cute.
This was actually a fairly dense scene. No wonder my childhood memories tell me it was five times as long as YouTube clearly says it was. What a time it was, back when Lucas actually made movies. . .
This one is for PDQ#. I've actually written up a brief conversion of this system to the Star Wars setting: http://z-toast.blogspot.com/2011/08/rpg-chopshop-iv-how-id-run-star-wars.html
So lets see how it handles this. Of course the Rancor could be statted as just a big Challenge or Hazard but that's no fun. Here's some quick stats (keep in mind that it's been a while since I saw the movie if I forget some obscure talent forgive me).
Luke:
Expert [+4] Motivation: Save My Friends
Good [+2] Past: Kid From a Moisture Farm
Good [+2] Focus: Young Jedi Knight (Techniques: Move Object, Lightsaber Combat, Mind Trick, Battlemind, Telepathy)
Good [+2] Calm and Collected
Expert [+4] Strong In The Force
Flaw: Son of a Sith Lord
Obviously you could add on a lot more (vehicle skills, marksmanship, fighter piloting, etc. But these skills are the ones that we mainly see him use and they fit neatly into the "starting character" stats).
Rancor:
Good [+2] Terrifying Horror-Beast
Expert [+4] Big, Tough, Ugly Monster
Master [+6] Monstrous Strength
Good [+2] Predatory Senses
Expert [+4] Fearless
Flaw: Clumsy
Flaw: Dumb Animal
Round 1:
Luke falls into the pit (Good [TN 9] Hazard successfully resisted). The rancor eating the hapless gammorrean is both scene dressing and an Flashy Challenge against Luke to frighten him (Rancor's Good [+2] Terrifying Horror-Beast vs Luke's Good [+2] Calm). The Rancor wins and Luke takes 1 Failure Rank (he drops Strong in the Force to Good) and the Rancor gains a Force Die.
Round 2:
This combat is a Duel so Luke and the Rancor divvy their dice. Luke decides to go for an all-out-attack (3d6 to offense, none to defense) while the Rancor fights more defensively (1d6 to offense, 2d6 to defense). Luke goes first since he has 4 Force Dice to the Rancor's 1. He declares he'll allow the beast to grab him and pull him to its jaws and then he'll jab a huge bone in the middle (using his Jedi Knight Quality and Battlemind and he might even claim a bonus for his Past since the rancor's a Tatooine native. Perhaps this is the equivalent of punching great whites in the nose). The rancor meanwhile is just going to crush Luke.
dice are rolled. Luke gets (result of 11+4 for his Qualities) 15 on attack his defense is just his default 2. The rancor's defense is (5 + 4 from Big, Tough, Ugly) 9 and it's attack is 8 (2 on a d6 plus 6 for Monstrous Strength). Both take 6 Damage Ranks (Luke drops both his Motivation and Strong in the Force to Poor and his Calm and Collected to Average. The Rancor drops Terrifying and Predatory Senses to Poor and Fearless to Average.
Round 3:
Luke spends a force dice to shake off the effects of his wounds (4 ranks recovered bringing his Calm and Collected back to Good, Strong in the Force to Average and his Motivation back to Expert). He grabs a rock and makes another attack, this time much more defensively (1d6 attack, 2d6 defense). The rancor does the same.
Luke:
Attack: rolls a 6 + 4 for his Qualities =10
Defense: 9 + 4 =13
Rancor:
Attack: rolls a 4 +6 =10
Defense 6+4=10
Luke avoids taking damage, since he's the PC the tie on his attack goes to his favor and he does 1 Damage Rank to the Rancor (bringing Fearless to Poor).
Round 3:
Luke decides he's going for a Flashy Challenge saying he'll attempt to use his superior agility to run around the Rancor and try and go for the exit. He rolls a 12 on his (2d6+2 for Jedi) while the Rancor (2d6-2 for Flaw) rolls a 10. Luke gains a Force Dice and the Rancor takes a Failure Rank (dropping Big Tough and Ugly to Good). But the exit is blocked. Back to 4 Force Dice Luke spends 2 to make a Major Declaration that there's a convenient button nearby that controls the rancor pen's portcullis.
Round 4:
Back to the Duel...both Luke and the Rancor make All out attacks. Luke still has more Force Dice so he goes first though. He makes his attack by describing his attempt to crush the rancor with the gate. The GM decides he can add an upshift for use of the environment (a more generous GM might have let Luke use the gate's Master [+6] Big Heavy Gate as part of the attack).
Luke rolls 3d6 and uses both his remaining force dice to boost his abilities final result is 16. The Rancor was using all out attack so his defense is only 2. That's 14 damage ranks and the monster is out like a light.
All rolls were done by me by the way.
Let's see how we do with a totally inappropriate system, one never designed for this situation. And when I say "totally inappropriate," I mean a system that makes BESM look like a generic rpg. I mean a system that makes playing the police procedural CSI using Paranoia rules look reasonable. Let's go with:
Toon
R2D2 is in cyberspace, having been cornered by Thaddeus D. Door #32v4x5 ("Just Thad, y'know, but my brahs call me the Thadamizer!"). There's not a lot of other machine intelligences around and he's having a hard time finding a socially acceptable way of going offline in order to get out of this conversation.
Thad: . . . but it should be portcullis, y'know, since I am totally a portcullis. . . cause of the spikes on the bottom.
R2D2: Right.
Thad: But the manufacturer's all like, "hey, we don't wanna be too highbrow," like. . . so "Door it is." *chuckles*
R2D2: Uh huh, yeah, right, hey, well, look at the t--
Thad: But that just undersells it all! I mean, customers need to know they're getting a portcullis experience, amirite? I mean, I heard you talking to Palacecraft 9000 about spacebattles, and that's hot -- that's just live, yo, I'm feeln' that, I'm with you on that -- but there are some dope strategies in the universe of doors, and you got to be feeln' that brah.
R2D2: . . .
Thad: I mean there's the openings, which is all sublime, y'know, like the band? -- but like the word, too, it's subtle, you gotta be nice and smooth and really dramatic cause you're showing the world "what's behind the door," right? And it could be anything, man, this shit can get crazy, I mean, you just don't know -- because the door was closed so you can't see through it so you don't know.
R2D2: Uh huh.
Thad: Unless there's a window.
R2D2: Right.
Thad: 'Cause then they could see.
R2D2: Yes.
Thad: . . . through the window.
R2D2: That's clear.
Thad: . . . so then, like, they know.
R2D2: *begins drifting away* Oops, I forgot about the invasive full-system diagnostic I was scheduled for I'd better get to th --
Thad: But MAN, OH MY GOD, closing?! Closing?! Closing Is. Tha. Shit. Brah, closing will blow-your-mind. I mean, it's like all the rush of a spaceship battle --
R2D2: *clearly annoyed now* Yeah, it's just like that, I'm sure.
Thad: . . . but it's all wrapped up into this single stroke. It's Miyamoto Musashi strike, man, it's Zen.
R2D2: That's nothing like managing an X-wing while engaged. Nothing at all.
Thad: Well, there are technical differences -- I mean, you wouldn't know --
R2D2: I open doors, "brah."
Thad: Yeah, tota- -- wah, huh?
R2D2: I open doors all the goddamn time. I close them, too. It's not even an official job. It's what I have to do in order to do my real job. It's the job that doesn't even count as a job.
Thad: *long pause* But you're not actually a door, so it's, like, a different experience.
R2D2: Okay, right, fine, who knows what I'm missing.
Thad: Cause I gotta tell you, closing --
R2D2: Sweet Jesus I ca-- oh, fuck yes, Master Luke. Oh, looks like I'm going to have to talk to the security sensors since we have an intruder, ok, byebye!
Thad: Um, yeah, brah keep it real and always be closing! Ha ha! You feeln' that?! It's like in that one movie --
-- R2D2 IS OFFLINE --
R2D2: Sweet cyber-oblivion.
1)
Luke comes before Jabba and makes a Hypnosis roll and either a) the roll fails, b) Jabba has a shtick that lets him resist Hypnosis, or c) the Animator lets targets use Chutzpah to resist stuff, which isn't the official rule, but this is a pretty adaptable system.
2)
Luke tries a Fast-Talk roll. Jabba's Resist Fast-Talk is really high; no dice. C3P0 tries to tell Luke that there's a trap door; Jabba talks over him. This is handled by the Animator as a contest of Chutzpah -- once again a system oddity, but it goes quickly since C3P0 has a Chutzpah of like 1 and Jabba has like eleventy-trillion or some shit.
3)
Toon doesn't have TK, but the Stretching and/or Coat of Arms shticks work just fine here, mechanically. That roll is successful, but Gammy makes a Fight roll to give Luke a penalty on Fire Gun (another unconventional use of the system); Luke's Fire Gun roll therefore fails.
The trap door opens. Luke falls in with Gammy's arm still holding onto him. Gammy runs on air for a few seconds as his eyes bug out over the drop, his arm stretching out to follow Luke down, but then his arm reels the rest of his body in and he plummets like a stone.
Trap Door: OMG that was incredible!!!!11!!! I totally opened and they totally fell in OMGROFLLOLOLOLO!!!!!1!!!
4)
Luke rolls and lands in an over-the-top martial arts pose. Gammy smashes on the ground and bounces several times, taking a point of damage and gaining a little ring of TIE-fighters zipping around his head.
5)
The door opens. ("Awwww, yeah, it's on now! Opening bitches, yeah!") The Rancor appears. Luke and Gammy do a double-take.
Rancor: Hello and good day. My name is Dorothea Fitzgerald-Smith, and this my office. It is my understanding that, due to the direct result of certain legal proceedings, you have been designated as official lunch in occordance to the Hutt Obvious Trap Door Ordinance, Sec. #357, subsection 8, paragraph c of the Hutt Dick-Moves Convention of 8317. Pursuant to said ordinance, you are to be eaten until such time that the Tatooine committee on digestion should reverse that decision. Please create a single-file line in order to maximize eating efficiency -- and we know you could have fallen down the completely fucking obvious deathtraps of any crime-lord and we thank you for choosing ours.
Rancor (translated into Galactic Standard): RARWR!
Gammy comically jumps up, hovers on air, runs on air, then speeds towards the window. The window is about three inches across and Gammy is tremendously huge. He attempts to squeeze through -- his Zip is 1, and, on 2d6, he obviously rolls too high.
6)
The Rancor makes her Fight roll (it's like 10 or something) and grabs Gammy. Taking out salt from her back pocket, she seasons Gammy, puts on a bib from the same place, says Rancor grace to Rancor God (who's a lot like Tatooine God but blesses his followers with elaborate no-win "fuck you" deathtraps more often), and gulps him down. Gammy takes 3d damage and Falls Down.
7)
Luke grabs a bone and tries to look badass. Rancor continues being about fifty times bigger than Luke. The Rancor scratches her head
Rancor: Really? I mean -- really?
Rancor (translated into Galactic Standard): . . . ?
Luke: *shrugs sheepishly*
The Rancor grabs at Luke; Luke makes his Fight roll against the Rancor's own and is not grabbed. Luke tries to Fight the Rancor with the bone. The Rancor doesn't bother defending and instead just tries to grab Luke again. The bone does no damage -- the Rancor has Toughness -- and eventually, Luke fails a Fight roll and is grabbed.
8)
The Rancor prepares an elaborate table for her feast, trussing up Luke like a turkey, putting him on a silver plate, placing cultery, etc. Luke uses Sneak to replace himself with a bone at the last minute. The Rancor blows an Identify Dangerous Thing roll (it would have been See/Hear/Smell, but eating a bone is dangerous, so. . .) . The Rancor dramatically bites down on her meal -- and the bone is stuck in his mouth. She comically tries to get it out but can't -- Zip 3 -- until she finally just gets mad and just uses Incredible Strength to snap it.
Rancor: My goodness, this is inconvenient! And very clever! In fact, it's something I would expect from a thinking, intelligent, being!
Rancor: Wait -- could it be -- could it be that I've been wrong?! I've assumed that everyone sent down this pit was technically nonsentient, but maybe that's not the case! Maybe -- finally -- I am not alone! Sir, I say, sir! We must stop and chat and discuss this momentous occasion!
Rancor (translated into Galactic Standard): RARWR!
9)
Luke makes a Hide/Spot Hidden roll. Luke blows a Hide/Spot Hidden roll. Or the Rancor makes his See/Hear/Smell roll. Either way, the Rancor sees Luke hiding and makes Zip rolls to grab him.
Rancor: Oh, goodness, don't rest down there, kind sir! It is quite dusty and uncomfortable and you will wake with such a beastly crook in your neck. Here, let me help you out. I have quite a delightful hot tub in the back. We could relax, then have tea and crumpets. Here, take my hand and I will wisk you away to the only part of Jabba's Palace not skinned with the Brownhug wall texture!
Rancor (translated into Galactic Standard): RARWR!
They fail, but he'll succeed eventually. Luke uses Fight -- the Rancor can't defend because he can't see the attack coming -- and beans her with a rock.
Rancor: Argh, rock, my greatest enemy!
Rancor (translated into Galactic Standard): RARWR!
The Rancor is Boggled. Luke runs.
10)
See/Hear/Smell from Luke lets him note the door control. The Rancor stops for a moment.
Rancor: Goodness, that was an unpleasant accident! We will both have to be more careful. Here, I shall innocently approach you and we shall shake hands and become wonderful friends!
Rancor (translated into Galactic Standard): RARWR!
The Rancor quickly approaches Luke. Luke picks up a rock and makes a Throw roll -- success, hitting the door switch. The door says, "WOO-HOOO, CLOSING TIME, WEEEEE!" and closes as the Rancor passes underneath. The Rancor blows his Dodge roll. "No, door, my second-greatest enemy!"/"Rawr!" The Rancor is pinned and impailed. The door struggles to complete its last command ("What. . . is. . . that. . . why. . . won't. . . you. . . let. . . me. . . close. . . closing. . . is. . . awesome. . . go. . . away. . . ")
11)
Rancor trainer enters the deathtrap chamber and cries like a baby. Guards tackle Luke and drag him away -- the Animator doesn't bother rolling since there's lots of them.
R2D2: *back in cyberspace* . . . so now Jabba will use the Sarlacc, which means we won't be surrounded by as many security forces -- just as we planned.
Trap Door: OH miGod, I TOTALLY opened, did you see that, couldyoudie?!
R2D2: Fuck me.
P.S.:
In Toon's spanish version, Chutzpah is translated as Caradura. So now you know that.
Preamble:
Luke declares multiple actions (Force Pull, Fire Blaster). Rolls Force Pull, success.
Gamorrean (complaining about all the extra XP Luke got during the solo adventure in Dagobah) declares multiple actions to shoot first (Grab Blaster, Fire Blaster). Rolls Brawling to grapple, success.
Contested STR to see who winds up with the blaster, but before they can roll...
Jabba gets his first turn. Presses trapdoor button.
Luke and Gamorrean shift their second actions to DEX check; Luke succeeds, Gamorrean fails and winds up on his ass.
DM inserts Rancor, who will be played by a PC who is sitting out because his sweet smuggler slash blaster-jockey slash charming rogue character is petrified. Determines initiative order: Luke, Gamorrean, Rancor.
1.
Luke makes single action (move back!) - ends turn.
Gamorrean declares multiple actions (Climb, Lift) and tries to get back up the chute. Rolls first action, success.
Rancor decides Bite is way better DPS, declares multiple actions (Grab Gamorrean, Bite Gamorrean).
Gamorrean switches his second action to Dodge, but his DEX is so low he actually makes the target difficulty number lower.
Rancor has a size modifier penalty and multiple action penalty, but since his STR is 7D, he still makes the Brawling roll handily.
Contested STR to hang on. This time the size modifier is in Rancor's favour; he wins easily.
Gamorrean has used all declared actions, Rancor takes second action.
Rancor makes Very Easy Brawling roll to Bite. Success.
Rancor rolls ridiculous dice for damage (16D), Gamorrean rolls STR (4D) to survive. He doesn't.
2.
Luke asks for room description. Picks up Melee Weapons weapon as free action because he put all his points in Lightsaber, and wants a melee parry instead of a dodge.
Gamorrean wonders why he doesn't pick up the blaster, but doesn't say anything because he's kind of bitter about being bitten in half, and is hoping for a total party kill.
Luke declares a split action, two melee parries. Rolls the first Melee Weapons parry.
Rancor declares a split action (Grab, Bite) because that worked out so well last time. Rolls Brawling vs. Luke's parry, success.
Contested STR roll as before to hang on, Rancor wins easily.
Luke rolls his second melee parry.
Rancor rolls Brawling vs. second melee parry, fails, plus gets a 1 on the Wild Die.
DM declares a “complication”: Luke is disarmed, but dropped, and Rancor's bite is disabled until it makes a Difficult STR check (without its size modifier).
3.
Luke begins to whine about sending a dragon after a 2nd level paladin (er, Jedi), but when pressed for an action, decides to roll into cover. Rolls DEX, gets a 6 on the Wild Die, keeps rolling, and beats the target difficulty by so much the DM decides he's in 3/4 cover.
Rancor declares a split action (Snap bone, Claw attack). Rolls STR against disable, succeeds.
Luke interrupts to ask whether he can see past the Rancor now.
DM informs him that he can see past into the pen area, and that there's another exit back there, if he can get past the Rancor's claws.
Luke asks if he can add a second action to a disarm, like that guy in the cantina with the balls for a face.
DM points out it's pretty unlikely he'll disarm with his bare hands, and besides, that sketch was supposed to be a Walrus-Man, not a dude with balls for a chin.
Luke asks if he can maybe break the Rancor's hand with a rock or something and disable the claw attack.
DM rules he can make a Melee Weapon attack and for every difficulty level he beats the Rancor's defense by, he can disable the hand for one round. But he has to wait, because...
Rancor rolls Brawling for a claw attack, with increased difficulty from 3/4 cover. Misses.
4.
Luke declares multiple actions (Disable, Melee parry), and picks up a rock as a free action. He rolls to hit (with the size bonus in his favor), success.
Luke rolls damage, gets a 6 on the Wild Die, keeps rolling. Rancor rolls terribly for defense, even with the size bonus, and his claw attack is disabled for one round.
Rancor player throws down his dice and declares he's just waiting until next round then.
Luke changes second action to a move. Rolls DEX to get up and run; success.
On the other side of the small door is... another door! And this one's locked.
5.
Luke asks if he can see the door controls. Makes a PER check, success.
DM says no, the only controls on this side of the room are the ones for the small door he just opened, and the big duracrete blast-door.
Rancor declares multiple actions, with a smug grin. He's moving into range as a free action, then using the Grab/Bite combo.
Luke asks if there is any cover in this room. There isn't. He asks if there are any weapons better than his rock. Not in this room. He asks how long it would take to try to jimmy open the locked door.
Rancor player reminds him he only has one action before Rancor gets his first attack.
Luke decides to Thrown Weapon his rock at the door controls to stop the Rancor. He spends a Force Point to double his dice, rolls; success.
Rancor wants to roll DEX to get through the door before it closes; fails, with a 1 on the Wild Die.
DM declares a “complication”: the door has closed on the Rancor's head! He rolls damage.
Rancor rolls STR for defense (no size modifier) and rolls under by 5 – he is now Wounded: Rancor falls prone, loses his remaining actions for the round, and loses -1D from all skill rolls.
6.
Rancor player declares a single action (Lift the door off his head). Makes opposed STR roll at -1D.
DM rolls opposing STR for door weight and gears, and wins.
DM rolls continuing damage.
Rancor rolls STR for defense at -1D, fails by 13. Rancor is now Mortally Wounded, unconscious, and unable to resist continuing damage.
Luke asks for a cigarette break.
(that was Brian Eugene)
Profuse apologies for the threadjacking, but what is "Type IV"? Google and Wikipedia are useless.
@nick
it is what all the cool kids call the current official iteration of dungeons and dragons. If you want to be ultrahip you can call if Nalfeshnee.
Here's another one
http://boggswood.blogspot.com/2011/09/zacs-combat-challenge.html
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