Pool of Radiance AAR: A GrogHeads™ Experience

Started by BanzaiCat, August 20, 2015, 10:46:03 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

JasonPratt

I saw your Buck Rogers there!

(Not a euphamism.)

Also, checking to see if delirium boy is named Leeroy... hmm....
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

airboy

This AAR reminds me of something that I loved and still love about Pool of Radiance.  The rumors and whatnot that you picked up that had you read clips from that journal.  Some of this game took place in your mind through the BS rumors and descriptions.  As game design advanced, that "reading stuff" went away - especially stuff that was more BS than actually helpful in power-gaming to a win.

The older Elder Scrolls games still had that (Morrowind being the best example), but even they lost it more and more over time.

Pool of Radiance had bar rumors that were just nuts.  But others that contained elements of what was going on in the world.  It helped build a lot of atmosphere for the game that you don't see as much in more modern games that have a lot more eye candy.

JasonPratt

...I take it you didn't actually read most of those books in Skryim, then.  :buck2:
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

airboy

Quote from: JasonPratt on February 19, 2016, 07:02:35 PM
...I take it you didn't actually read most of those books in Skryim, then.  :buck2:

I read the shorter ones.  Bethesda goes way too much on "epic writing" and way too little on "weird rumors and stories."  I'm not interested in a historical thesis on Tamerial - but bat-shit crazy bar rumors or snippets of gossip are awesome!  When they have bits and pieces of what is actually going on in the story line - even better.

BanzaiCat

Once I discovered (in Skyrim) that opening the book immediately conveys the reward (skill boost, quest, whatever), I'd take it if I had room in inventory for it, to sell it later, or put it on a bookshelf in my house. In the later game, though, I don't even bother...just crack it open, receive reward, and drop it. But actually reading it? Ain't nobody got time for that.

Sir Slash

Me too. PoE Also has lots of books to read. I feel a little guilty not reading them after somebody obviously went to a lot of trouble to write them. And some of the stories are pretty good. I'd forgotten about the Bar Brawl in PoR and that brought back some fun memories.
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

JasonPratt

Quote from: airboy on February 19, 2016, 08:48:05 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on February 19, 2016, 07:02:35 PM
...I take it you didn't actually read most of those books in Skryim, then.  :buck2:

I read the shorter ones.  Bethesda goes way too much on "epic writing" and way too little on "weird rumors and stories."  I'm not interested in a historical thesis on Tamerial - but bat-shit crazy bar rumors or snippets of gossip are awesome!  When they have bits and pieces of what is actually going on in the story line - even better.

Speaking as someone who read most if not all of the vanilla Skyrim books (although I would only save them to read when I had time later), I can vouch that most of them are the equivalent of crazy bar rumors and snippets of gossip. ;)

The scope of that gossip and crazy rumors is much wider, of course, than what's going on in one particular town and its nearby countryside recently; and I definitely appreciated that kind of... coziness?... from PoR, and missed it as the series naturally expanded to its own larger scopes.  O:-) The Skyrim color texts naturally don't (usually) feature that kind of coziness (for want of a better word), although even then there are notes and things lying around that have trivial and semi-trivial local importance. And books will give bits and pieces that turn out to be relevantly true for a surprisingly local context somewhere else once discovering that area. But still, the effect isn't the same, I know.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

BanzaiCat

Entry 23-a:
The Not-So-Grateful Dead.


After narrowly dodging a full-on brawl and heavily-armed City Watch looking to end the revelry, and knowing our characters are still too weak to take on the Kobold Camp...

(...that just kills me to admit...%&%#**@# Trolls...)

...I decided to move the party after the graveyard in the north of the city.

But first, we had a few administrative things to do.



Our adventures in slaughtering low-level Kobolds has netted us a grateful City, apparently. That's one less group that can join the Boss now.





Not too bad, considering we didn't get much XP for our butchery.

The Clerk told us of a new mission:



I believe I've pieced together that this heir is either in the Cadorna Textile House, the only area of Uncivilized Phlan that I've yet to visit, or in the Buccaneer Base, to the west of Phlan.

I'm thinking he's not in the Cadorna Textile House, because we already have a mission to find some uppity noble's lost make-up/treasure box that's somewhere in that block. Apparently, he sent a hero in to go after it, and hasn't heard back from the guy in a while. Go figure. But, this is a mission for another time. I'm focused on the Graveyard.

We encamp in town, heal up, and memorize spells. I also equip that Two-Handed Sword +1/+3 Vs. Undead in BANZAI-CAT's hands, as it will be a needed advantage.

Here's a little background:
The Valhingen Graveyard is a cauldron overflowing with undead. Ever since the Boss' forces stopped patrolling the graveyard after the Flight of the Wyrms, undead in increasing numbers have been seen in and around the graveyard. They have even crossed the river into the city. The Boss will not send his evil clerics into the graveyard; he is fearful that they will take control of the undead and turn them against him. He has also found his normal troops unsuccessful in stemming the undead tide. So for now, he ignores the problem.

The city council has taken a greater and greater interest in the graveyard as they began to retake the city. When the undead only bothered the monsters it wasn't a problem, but now zombies and wights travel near the reclaimed areas of the city. Previous parties sent into the graveyard have not come back. The city council has hired the party to deal with the problem. Hold off on entering the graveyard until the city council has given the party a two-handed sword +1/+3 vs. undead and several scrolls with restoration spells.


The graveyard is teeming with skeletons, zombies, wights, and even worse undead. There's obviously something that is central to their existence, perhaps a lich, or evil wizard (duh), or some other unknown force. Whatever it is, we assume that dealing with it (i.e. 'chopping it into tiny bits') will cause the threat to vanish and turn the Graveyard back into what it does best...being a place to bury bodies and for amateur ghost hunters to ooh and ahh over floating orbs they capture on film that are probably just light reflections in the lens.

Be that as it may, we take the boat over to the north side of the bay.



We head in.



Sigh. We're stuck in an 80s zombie movie...



...okay, we're in an 80s MTV video.

Whatever happens, we'll be ready for it.

Which means, immediately saving the dang game.


Sir Slash

Dibs on the Ghost Tour rights after it's cleared.
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

BanzaiCat

Entry 23-b:
Death Becomes Them.


Saving the game here is highly important, since these undead a-holes can drain levels. I do have a plethora of Restore scrolls, courtesy of the Phlan City Council On Keeping The Dead Dead, but I usually completely forget about these.

Before we move on, first things first.



That two-handed sword will come in handy here.



The atmosphere here is oppressive, choking; we can all feel the watchful eyes of spirits on us, causing hairs to raise up on the backs of our necks (and the hairs on GUS's chest to equally get aroused).

Each step here is a chore. Maps of the Graveyard - rough though they may be - reveal a twisting, winding trail to follow, passing through a narrow path between cracked and aged tombstones and massive burial chambers with dark, gaping maws for entrances. Even the inanimate objects look alive, frightening, and more than willing to end our lives and count us among the local undead population.

It doesn't take long before the locals find us.





A horde of skeletons, sounding like so many windcharms as the howling breezes blow through their empty chests and skulls, descends upon us.

Skeletons really are not much of a threat, in and of themselves. They're very vulnerable to blunt weapons and to magic weapons attuned to the undead, but other 'regular' magic edged weapons and normal weapons don't do much to them.



Plus, in great numbers, they have an annoying habit of hitting and doing damage.

We do, however, have two Clerics in our midst, and TURNING them will even the odds greatly.



KYZBP grabs his holy symbol (no, the OTHER holy symbol), concentrates furiously, and chants the words needed to bring his deity's holy light to the area!



Many of the skeletons are indeed turned, but the result is that many of them are trapped and cannot flee.





Sadly, if a TURNED creature cannot flee, and is right next to a character...it gets to attack.

Meanwhile, that two-handed sword that has a sharp-on for the undead does a good job of clearing some of the Skeletons out.



Meanwhile, BBMIKE bravely brings up the rear.



His spells won't have much of an effect on the Skeletons. Well...the Fireball spell might, but that's like using a flamethrower to destroy an ant hill. It might be fun to do a little BBQ, but it uses up the valuable Fireball spell.

Skeletons in the graveyard serve to slow parties down. They will ambush the party constantly in the early part of the Graveyard, seeking to reduce hit points and spells. No one can rest safely in the Graveyard, at least to my knowledge. We could leave to rest up and memorize spells, but returning means having to start at square one and move through the gauntlet of Skeletons again. Plus, the undead get significantly harder the further into the Graveyard you go. So, no spells for BBMIKE, at least not now.



The Skeletons to the back of the horde, though, do manage to flee, and some get away. I'm fine with that. If the Skeletons were unable to flee because of a wall, though, we'd have to approach them, and since monsters go into Guarded mode if they cannot get away, they'll get a free swing at anyone moving adjacent to them.



Inevitably, the Skeleton horde is chopped into bony bits, and we slowly but surely move forward against the onslaught.

Guess what? DIRTEN gets in on the act, too!





Uhh...dude, Hold Person doesn't work against undead.

So glad you're here, NPC!



A few more swings and the Skeletons are eventually reduced to nothing. We've managed to win this first encounter, but they did get a few good hits in, and there's a long way to go before we can clear this Graveyard.



Also, Skeleton XP is worth basically squat.

After casting a few Healing spells to bring a banged-up GUSINATOR's HP to a better neighborhood, and saving the game, we take literally one step into the next square, and get this result.



They're green, so they're probably Zombies.



Yep. Zombies. Essentially the same as Skeletons, Zombies are damage-soakers and spell-wasters, looking to slow us down and drain us of resources. They're worth slightly more XP though.

They have the same wearing numbers, too.



They're also just as susceptible to Turning, and more susceptible to edged weapons than Skeletons, so they're easier to dispatch.



By the way, I like how the game describes undead as 'dying.'  ;D



Did I say they were worth more XP? Well...yeah, they are. Technically, I guess.

After destroying that Zombie horde, we continue down the waving, cracked path through the Graveyard. Having entered and turned south, going through the first Skeleton ambush, we hit the southern end by some tombs, which is where that Zombie horde got us. The path continues north and turns sharply east, among other tombs and crumbling structures.

That's where the biggest, most horrid pain in the butt part of the game happens.



These guys are royal bastards.

KyzBP

"KYZBP grabs his holy symbol (no, the OTHER holy symbol), concentrates furiously, and chants the words needed to bring his deity's holy light to the area!"

It's easy to confuse the 2 given their similar shape and size.

Sir Slash

"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.


airboy

DIRTEN is the most useless party companion ever.

Does the rest of the group at least taunt him?

Sir Slash

You gotta admire those zombies. They're not much in a fight but they sure are color-coordinated well.
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.