Friday 18 October 2019

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 5: Sound The Alarm!

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Twinhorn Gold Mine, Slave Mining Pit
As the battle cries of the Ginto Boys echoed through the mines, the party argued whether to leave, stand and fight the reinforcements, or chase the boss.  Ultimately, they decided to hold the mining pit after a freed child asked them to save the other kidnapped children who were being brainwashed and trained to fight.  Mike fished one of the healing sinchu roots Apha had given them from his pocket, dropped it into Dan's canteen of lemonade, and force fed it to him; he immediately felt much better, and his left arm was no longer broken.

The first group of enemy reinforcements, two men with rattan sticks and a third with two knives, entered the chamber from the main entrance, and Mike ran up to meet them while Dan regained his footing; Roberto held his position at the mine cart track in case more came from there, while Po held his ground in the centre of the room, ready to defend the slaves, who still struggled to free themselves.  Mike took out a stick mook with a kick, then the knife guy stepped in and feinted with one knife then stabbed with the other, though Mike Luckily dodged.

Roberto spotted more enemies running in along the minecart track and Waited to stab one.  Mike retreated down the stairs, but the knife guy followed, and managed to get past his guard this time.  Dan ran to help him, but his triple Rapid Strike of Defensive Attacks were all parried or dodged.  Roberto surprised one mook with a knife to the ribs as they charged the room, then moved to attack a second but they somehow managed to defend against both thrusts.

More dudes with sticks and one guy with knives swarmed out of the main entrance towards Dan and Mike, and both barely made their defenses against the whirlwind of blows.  Mike took out a mook, though it took both parts of a Rapid Strike, while Dan's attacks were both parried by the new knife guy.  Roberto took out another mook, backed up into a wall, then got crit by a rattan stick... for 0 damage (Dan: "I feel bad for that guy.").  Meanwhile, Dan got took a stick to the chest for 1 damage, then got stabbed for 5.

Mike and Dan continued giving ground, retreating around the upper and middle terraces, respectively, struggling to hold off the escrima fighters; Mike downed one only for another to step into his place, forcing him even further back.  A stick mook parried Roberto one too many times, and he leapt at the man in a Bloodlust induced rage, stabbing him over and over, continuing even after he fell to the ground.  The knife guy near Roberto ran down and around to flank him, but stumbled climbing up from the second terrace.

Dan got stabbed again, and continued to give ground, mirrored shortly by Mike one level up, who managed to take out another mook with a pair of kicks.  The last stick mook near the mine tunnel managed to strike Roberto while he was distracted, just as a new group of reinforcements entered from the main tunnel.  Roberto took a glance and spotted the man that had been training the children in the other chamber, who was carrying two heavy machetes.  Mike parried two stick attacks, but took a knife in the gut when he failed to dodge, then overcame the shock and retaliated by kicking... one of the stick mooks.

Roberto got critically parried, sending his favourite knife (with Weapon Bond) flying harmlessly away, and then had to use Luck to avert a critical failure on his second thrust, which then killed another mook.  Most of the new enemies ran down to the center of the pit, to fight Po and the freed slaves, while the machete man slow-walked towards Roberto.  Suddenly, a shout of "YEEEEEEEHAW" came from the cart tunnel, as Willy shot out on a mine cart and ran over one of the knife guys.

Dan finally landed a kick to a mook for minimum damage (Me: "Okay, you hit, now roll a 1 for damage." *Dan rolls dice* Dan: "No, no!  It can't be!"), but he failed the HT roll and got knocked out anyway.  Roberto turned to the only surviving enemy nearby, a knife guy, and Feinted him for 7 degrees before slicing across his neck.  Seeing Roberto's success, Mike tried a Rapid Strike Feint/Attack on his knife guy, but got parried.

Despite bonuses from a Retreat and Defensive Attack, Dan got stabbed again, but stayed on his feet.  In a desperate gambit, the knife guy fighting Roberto made an All-Out Attack to the foot and crit... but rolled 1 damage, and Roberto replied with a pair of thrusts to the neck which proved fatal.  Mike finished off his last stick mook, overwhelming his defenses with a flurry of kicks, and stepped back from his knife guy.

Dan stepped into close combat against his knife guy, but got parried, and then retreated away from his retaliatory thrusts.  Mike's knife guy held back, Waiting for his opponent to do something, but Mike Evaluated instead.  The machete guy charged at Roberto, but missed his Move and Attack.  Roberto flipped both his knives to Reversed Grip, then stepped into close combat and stabbed at a hand twice, but both were parried.


Notes:
Unfortunately, Po's player missed this session due to emergency surprise overtime.  Originally he was just supposed to be late; had I known he wouldn't make it at all, I'd have run a session of DF instead.

Sinchu roots are a clear ripoff of inspired by Dragonball's senzu beans.  They're more easily available, but also less powerful.

A handy phrase I've been using whenever the players ask a question about what might happen next or what would be the best strategic option is "In a movie, what would happen?".

I'm now giving mooks an HT check, -1 per 2 damage, to live if they take less damage than a major wound.

My dice were on fire this session, proving once and for all that charging your dice absolutely works.  At one point, I made 4 Defenses at 9 or worse in a row, followed by another 4 Move and Attacks at 9 in a row.

I've allowed Defensive Attack to give a +1 to Dodge.  Successive dodges are penalized anyway, so this shouldn't be unbalancing.

A rules question that has never come up before: when rolling a 17 to defend against a Feint, what happens?  I ruled that it's an automatic failure for 0 degrees of failure, which seems to be correct.

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