I hate to let a single bad die roll or goof-up seriously derail a game.
So when Doyce almost opened up a roof hatch and let stray sunlight piercing into the gloom of the cavernous building below alert everyone inside to his presence … I let him pay for a cheap Inspiration roll to realize his potential error.
When Randy then rolled crap on a Move Silent as he joined the others across the roof … I let him spend Action Dice to spend it up, and ignored the nat 20 Listen roll from below to avoid the whole jig being up.
But when Stan rolled a 1 on his Hide to help keep the tarp over the roof hatch to avoid the sunlight-gloom-piercing thing … well, sometimes the Game Gods are trying to tell you something.
So. Big firefight ensues. Which, actually, was kind of fun, even though there may be some Unfortunate Circumstances that ensue … next month, when we, hopefully, finally finish the module.
Some times, for story, you just have to ignore certain rolls…
I made a habit of rolling all combat dice in the open in my current Banewarrens game; this became problematic when Kim’s paladin was ripped to pieces a few weeks back. She was about -28 in hitpoints once the rolling was done…
Sure. And I usually roll behind the screen, for that, among other, reasons.
But Doyce noted that, “Well, sometimes on a mission, you just end up screwing the pooch.” While what happened was not expected, and ended up with things occuring differently than anticipated, it wasn’t that different (e.g., it was altogether possible that they would end up in a firefight with the goons at the warehouse; this just started in a bit different way), and by no means a module-breaker.
And, sometimes, the module/mission just gets broken and you take your lumps. That can be entertaining, too.
I just found it amusing at the time that, despite my best efforts to keep things from prematurely derailing, the dice gods made their will known.
I thought it was quite appropriate. I’m glad it didn’t derail while it was just me up there, cuz that would have been difficult, but the idea that the bad guys spotted us just as we were creeping down the ladder… I can totally see that scene in a movie.
Somethings the fit hits the shan, and Bond’s gotta run like hell and dodge bullets. That’s cool when that happens… that’s the action sequence that we paid money to see — if it didn’t happen, it’d be Murder She Wrote, which is boring.
That said, and believing that the combat is going our way, I have this awful expectation that in a nearby room, someone is shredding documents…
Or maybe something other than documents …
(Actually, it would have been kind of amusing had it been just you up there. Could you have held off the bad’uns until Gina rammed the van through the garage door — assuming it was that vulnerable? Heh.)
(Or, alternately, I could have converted the Error Randy rolled to have him go through the roof. And, if he was lucky, end up on the catwalk.)
Stan commented on this in the wrong post, and, brilliantly enough, I responded without noticing. So I’m moving it over here for the record.
Stan said:
Well…
Jackie was bored and all.
Just itching for a fight.
It was a gaming Karma thing…really!
Dave replied:
That’s it! It was all Jackie’s fault!
A sudden gust of winter wind tore the corner of the tarp out of Gazi’s hand. It flapped loose and even as the others tried to grab at it, it blew straight over Calvin’s head, whence a muffled yelp came.
Gazi saw the shaft of sunlight streaming straight down into the cavernous building. She muttered something in Kazakh that didn’t sound apologetic.
“Here we go,” Gina said dryly, reaching for her pistol, seeing faces from the plant floor looking up their way in surprise.
Dylan, who’d just been lowering himself through the hatch and onto the ladder, felt his eyes get wide. “Oh, crap …”
Lou, though, who had taken point, and was now caught on the ladder in sunlight like a fly in a web, grinned broadly. “It’s about goddamned time,” she shouted, grabbed a flash-bang earring, and dropped to the catwalk below …
ummm…it was really early in the morning and I couldn’t see through my squinted eye’s what I was clicking on…
…yeah, that’s the ticket!
P.S.
Nice little story write up of the scene in question. I’ll add to it a little bit.
Dylan radioed back that he’d found a hatch that had been welded shut, but he would soon have it cleared using his watch Laser.
Calvin chimed in “Ummm, Boss. You could try your Wife now…Being morning and everything”. “It’s NOT funny anymore!” Dylan growled in annoyance.
Several blocks away near “Old Hong’s” restaurant, Dylan’s team members clambered out of the Panel Van and the Escalade moving through the dawn shadows toward the chop shop.
Lou was the first one up the stairway and rope to the roof. She was followed in quick secession by Calvin, and Gozi. Just as Gozi cleared the façade to the safety of the roof, she could hear the tell tale “ping, ping, ping” of Gina’s Combat boot’s on the steel the Stairway below. She was silently hoping that the jig was not up…
Dave! (or is it ***Dave)?
So I’m running a Banewarrens campaign and I decide to google “Banewarrens Campaign”, just to see what’s out there, and I run across your little peaceable kingdom. Hope all is going well.
Scott
It’s a small world, after all.