Gregor and Belle's First Quest

 Last time, I set up a quest as an example of my MicroBattle light RPG variant. My two heroes, Gregor the paladin and Belle the priest have been tasked with delivering a message to a hermit deep in the desert.

The Journey Begins

I pulled out a flip mat, a marker, some meeples, and some dice. On the left of the flip mat, I began mapping the path through the desert, with a black meeple showing where the heroes are. I'm essentially running it like a hex crawl.

I'm using the right side as a battle board. You can see that in area 1, the heroes have encountered 4 enemies. 

I determined this with the following charts:

First I roll on this chart (I skipped the area roll because it is a wilderness adventure).

I rolled a 5 so then I rolled on this chart.

And ended with with 4 weaker creatures. What are they specifically? I don't know; I'll just make something up. How about starving hyenas? Sure, why not.

I could create some tables to tell me exactly what gets encountered, but I'm being lazy here.

Battle!

I roll a D6 for each side to determine initiative. The hyenas roll a 6 and the heroes a 3. The hyenas attack!

There are two attacking each character. However, to make the game more pulpy (in that the heroes can easily defeat hordes of mooks), I have a special rule:

• Hollywood Bad Guys - only one mook attacks a hero per turn. Additional mooks provide an advantage to the roll

The target number is based on a comparison of levels. The hyenas are lower level (weaker) so start at a disadvantage (need a 5+ to hit). By outnumbering each hero, the hyenas also gain an advantage, lowering the target number to 4+. They miss Belle but hit Gregor!

However, Gregor has a chance to defend against the hit. His light armor gives him standard odds (4+) but his shield provides an advantage. He needs to roll a 3+ to avoid the hit. He rolls a 6! Hyena teeth grate against his armor but do not penetrate.

Now the heroes attack. Both are higher level so both are advantaged (need a 3+). A 4 and a 5. Two hits!

The hyenas try to defend, but they need a 6. They both fail so are wounded. They can only take 1 wound each, so both die.

This triggers another rule:

• Slay On! - after killing an enemy, a hero may attack again.

This time, only Gregor attacks again. He hits again but this time the hyena defends (rolls a 6).

However, with half their number dead, the hyenas must roll morale. They fail, so they break and run. 

Our heroes have survived their first encounter!

Keep On Trucking

Belle and Gregor continue their journey. At their next waypoint (2), I roll a discovery. I haven't created a chart for this yet and nothing came to mind, so I don't know what it is. I did roll to see if it was good or bad - a 6, which to me is good! I assume they discover some clue that will aid them in a future encounter.

The next two points (3 and 4) are uneventful. This brings them to the 5th point.

By the way, this photo shows how I determined the path. I assume that there are 3 possible exits (diagonal left, diagonal right, or straight). I then rolled a D6, with a 4+ indicating a path. I generally read the dice in the order of red, white, and blue. So you can see in this instance there is only a path to the left.

I then roll for an encounter and get 2 stronger monsters (the table above should read D3 / party). What are they? I don't know - let's say they are giant scorpions!

As Gregor and Belle tramp through the desert, two giant scorpions pop up from behind a sand dune.

What happens next? Stay tuned for the next installment!