WANDERING HEROES OF OGRE GATE PLAYTEST VII

Technical difficulties continues this session, which resulted in less play time, but not as bad as last week. I hope to have these problems resolved before next game. 

The party continued north to the Tsun Forest to find the Tree Dwelling Nuns. There they negotiated an alliance that would be sealed if the party would go to Je Valley and kill the Gentle Demon (a great master who kidnapped a member of their sect). The party agreed and headed south. Along the way The Venom of Zhoaze (Si) and his daughter (Ju) tracked down the party to discuss their strategy against the other sects. Si revealed that he was working on an alliance with Je Valley sect, which created a problem, since they were on their way to kill the head of Je Valley. They discussed it and decided a few days was needed to figure out how to handle this complication. Si then asked for a private meeting with Leng regarding a matter of "great importance".

Away from the rest of the party, Si announced that his daughter was in love with Leng and that he wanted them to marry. Leng was flattered but already married to Min, so he declined (as politely as possible). Unfazed, Si told him to leave Min and marry Ju. Leng also declined this proposal. Si became furious, and said he would shatter the alliance over the issue if his daughter's will was not met. Again Leng declined. Si left in a huff saying he would be back in ten days for Leng's final decision on the matter. 

Min understood the purpose of The Venom's meeting with Leng and became angry, but he managed to explain and reassure her. The group then set out toward Je Valley, discussing their options along the way. They were attacked by two more Bronze Monks (see last playtest report) and a lengthy combat ensued. 

Two Bronze Monks proved difficult indeed and the party well might have been killed in this conflict, though they did manage to harm one of the Monks quite badly. The Monks focused their efforts on Min and attacked her until she was incapacitated, at which point they left, leaving the party to wonder the purpose of the attack. Over the next few days they helped Min recover and then set out again. 

Though short, a number of interesting things happened this session. In the combat we saw Spinning Back Kick and Kick of the Golden Elephant interact. The first is a counter against the latter. We also found some text issues in the healing section that needed fixing. 

The reason for Leng's ongoing issues with Min and The Venom of Zhaoze is his Fated Flaw.   This has been an interesting development in the game and the players seem to like it a lot. Even though Fate can be heavy handed at times, because they know it is something in the setting and a product of a player's decision to take the flaw, they are quite okay with it. It has been so successful that we worked out a new fate mechanic that can be applied to an entire party over the course of the campaign. I will post about that later and we will see how it goes in play testing.