We just finished the most dramatic and exciting session of the game yet.
Truth be told, it exceeded even my GM expectations. (I have AWESOME players!)

Anyway, I do hope that Pokep And J Chokey get on here and share their perspectives.

The Characters:

Erec- LOP man at arms
Sturmer- impoverished son of a knight
Berke- Pilot from Thay...resting up at Bromeleon
Tukvar- Kath Tracker
Parnell- Itinerant Peoni priest

Essentially in a nutshell (BTW are there peanuts on Harn??) The players completed a quest for Houla Artona, Knight Commander of the LOP in Kaldor. Meanwhile Sir Remiu Kaphin, Knight Commander of Nebulan was attempting to thwart Houla plans. Along the way they discovered the Navehan influence on the Pagaelin, met Baron Verdreth, and the Earl Dariune.

One of the characters was asked to share testimony from his visit to Solora to the Soylana assembly in Whyce, and actually had the opportunity to try to direct the future of the LOP in Kaldor. The quest was revealed to be a secret missive from the Laranian Primate, drafted years beforehand, suggesting that the Kaldor LOP not participate in the Solora Crusade.
And further offering support and recognition if they did separate itself from the Melderyni order, similar to what the Checkered Shield did. The document appears to be several decades old...How could the Primate at the time have known???

Needless to say, Erec was unable to sway the council, and Houla has decided to send Ytalko, Nebulan and Vadan to Melderyn. Remiu, outraged, the council adjourned, says that Houla will have to burn him out of Nebulan...He will never go to Melderyn.

Before he can pack up and leave Whyce, the players beseech Edine Kynn to intercede on their behalf, Sir Remiu has abducted a free woman, (Erecs love interest, who he thought to use to leverage Erec). Challenged before his fellow Knights, Remiu says he was bewitched, calls her a sorceress, who must be burned. She demands trial by combat, and the players to champion her. Houla demands that Sir Remiu defend the church!

In the climactic battle Larani intercedes and has the player defeat Remiu in single combat! WOW what a dramatic battle in HM3...coolest battle Ive ever been a part of and very breathtaking! Eventually Remiu succumbs to fatigue and injury and is disarmed. In disgrace he is stripped of rank lands and titles.
Sturmer, the combatant is raised to knighthood and given Houla's own Khuzan sword.

So now, the LOP is reduced in strength going into the KSC.
Nebulan is without a Knight Commander, and the Earl Balim has lost a great portion of his military might.

Thanks to Kerry Mould for the Lady Of Paladins Article, Kerry Mould and Kenneth Malcolm for the Whyce article, Kerry Mould for the Nebulan article, and of course, Neil Thompson for the Asolade Adventures on which my campaign is based.

I am excited to see where the game goes from here...they group has been exposed to several other plots: Navehan/Pagaelin influence, Lost Tuleme Falls expedition, Merela Cheselyne wants a Chelni pony, the Barrows at Kobing may hold ancient treasure....Earl Balim wants to blaze a road to Jedes from the Salt Route....the Pagaelin believe that a dragon haunts the Shomos river area....

Wow! I like where this is going.

One of the interesting techniques I used was to allow the players to help plot the course and outcome of events. When erec gave his speech to the council to urge them to not support the Solora crusade, he had to roll his Orate in order to sway each member who was on the fence....

I let all of the players chime in as to how they thought Houla should vote, considering everything that he knew...It was very cool,and the players felt that they were part of the story and future events.

The duel lasted over 12 rounds....amazing since Remiu outclassed the pc by a lot.
All of the players were riveted to the scene even though it was a one on one...each blow was telliing and beautifully described. Particularly exciting was Sir Remiu's critical failure of his morale check...sending him into a berserk fury!

You've done a fine job of allowing the characters to matter without having all the world revolve around them. It has been a lot of fun.



But Sturmer had Truth and Righteousness on his side! Actually, I'm guessing that Remiu didn't have that much of an advantage - the broadsword is Sturmer's specialty. In a joust he would have been skewered like a martini olive.

As it was, Sturmer rolled well, but not remarkably so. We traded a lot of Blocks.



It really was very cinematic. I liked how Remiu was very aggressive, with repeated high shots looking for the bell-ringer that would end the combat fast, while Sturmer was the conservative, self-disciplined soldier that he is. Remiu's gambling style didn't pay off. Sturmer didn't roll all that lucky - I don't remember a single CS the entire combat - but he strung together about 6-8 MS's in a row (he needed rolls in the 70s). That meant he got a couple minor wounds on Remiu early, and that made it a pretty even contest. When Sturmer did start rolling some MF's (and one CF, as I recall), it was after Remiu's wounds had already taken a major toll.

The climax was perfect: Sturmer steps back (for the second time) and asks Remiu to recant. Berserk with rage, Remiu lunges at Sturmer with a desperate high shot. The blow glances off Sturmer's mailed forearm, and Remiu whispers something that only Sturmer hears. Then Sturmer lands a blow to Remiu's forearm. In game terms, just barely enough to require a fumble roll. In narrative terms, well, the sword falls with a clatter to the floor. Betrayed by his own swordarm, Remiu collapses in surrender.

You'd think Larani wanted it that way.

I've been playing and GMing for about 30 years, and I can't remember a fight that more perfectly resembled a really good movie scene. This campaign is my first experience with HarnMaster (though I've owned the original book since the day it came out). I am really impressed.

Although I think the HM combat system did work beautiful for the duel, I'm not sure that I would say that it was the main reason the combat was so exciting. I think it was more that the duel really *meant* something to the characters and the story. In many ways, it formed the climax-- or at least, served as a critical juncture-- for so many things that had been building-- not only in that session, but since the beginning of the campaign:

-- Sturmer's long-standing enmity with his brother, who had prevented him from joining the LOP
-- Sturmer's (and the other PCs) enmity with Sir Remiu
-- Erec's love interest in Brygeth
-- The internal tensions within the LOP between Sir Houla and Remiu

All of those elements/tensions/storylines ranging from the personal/romantic (Erec), family/ambition (Sturmer and his Brother), to the grand/political (internal tensions in the LOP) were on the line in that duel, hanging by a thread based on the outcome.

I think the setting/framing of it-- that is to say when and where it took place-- was also terrific. IThe fact that it took place at Whyce, where Sturmer had been denied entry as a Knight, was just perfect. The fact that Sturmer's brother argued that he couldn't fight in the duel because he wasn't a knight-- with the flourish of Sir Houla then saying, "Well, let's take care of that"-- and then knighting Sturmer with his brother's sword!. I even think that the duel occuring after Erec's failed attempt to sway his order's leadership to not support the Solori Crusade-- and the tension between Erec and Sturmer arguing over which of them would be the one who fought fight Sir Remiu-- added to the excitement level even more. I think Sturmer's repeated attempts to show mercy to Sir Remiu and to give him the chance to withdraw his accusation were the icing on the cake.

I'm not sure whether Don (DucatiDon, for those reading) had consciously set things up so that the duel would occur at just the right time and right moment in the story, given the character's most motivations, or whether he just sensed that was what was needed and went with it-- but either way, he ended up just framing this beautifully.

_________________
-- Jim Chokey

"Argent, chief embattled tenne. A coney of the field and crossed carrots proper"

I do owe some inspiration to Sir Walter Scott........

As do we all. As do we all . . .

I agree completely with you, jchokey. I was mainly directing my comments to the rest of this board, and my point was, "Harnmaster is pretty damn cool." I don't know how interested those crazy euro-harniacs are in "Sturmer, the embittered hemophiliac non-knight". What made the fight great was two-fold - it perfectly matched the tenor of the characters (PC and NPC), and was the fitting climax to a long series of events.

Sir Wally couldn't have scripted it better. Who would have thought back in that first session several months ago that Sturmer's confrontation with Remiu in Kobing would become (in retrospect) "foreshadowing". Not me, to be sure.

But back to my earlier point - imagine running that same combat in D&D. Sir Remiu, 8th Lvl Paladin with 60 HP, versus Sturmer, 2nd lvl Fighter with 15 hp. It would be a joke. Even if the two were evenly matched, the opportunity for drama is minimal.

For example, twice Sturmer stepped back to let Remiu recant. In most games that would be just plain stupid. In HM, where much of the action comes in DTAs and one strike can sever your head, it might be worth losing an attack for the chance of ending the combat early (while your head is still firmly attached.) Not that I was making that calculation explicitly, but it's nice not to have the system punish "good roleplaying".

And in most games, combat almost always ends in death or unconsciousness. HM presents a lot more possibilities. In the real world, I imagine most combats ended with a failed morale check. Remiu's dropping his sword was perfect. Remiu dropping to -6 hit points would have been . . . meh.

Ah, OK. I see what you're getting at now.

Yes, in this regard, Harnmaster's combat/injury system (especially with the morale rules) really did support/enable-- and even enhance-- this kind of 'combat drama' as it were.

That's a really good point about the DTAs, by the way: That the possibility of one occuring provides a mechanical incentive for *not* necessarily attacking ever chance you get.

Actually, now that I think about it.... the possibility of an AF (attacker fumble) does as well (as, of course, does the possibility of a defender counterstrike). Oh yeah, there's also weapon damage that can occur in a block. Wow, there are actually lots of things that can go badly for an attacker in HM combat *on the attacker's turn*.

Hmm... I wonder if that might actually be one of the more distinctive features of HM's combat system, now that I think of it.

That said: I still think Sturmer should be given some PPs for having *twice* given Remiu the chance to withdraw his accusation. That was just perfectly in tune with Laranian values.

_________________
-- Jim Chokey

"Argent, chief embattled tenne. A coney of the field and crossed carrots proper"

"In the climactic battle Larani intercedes and has the player defeat Remiu "
figurativly or actually?

All the witnesses agree, including Sturmer, that the answer is, "Actually". But, for the jaded Terran minds we are presenting this to, the answer would be, "Figuratively".

I think so. In the games I've played where the defender can gain an advantage, say, by blocking or dodging, the best reward is simply some advantage on the next attack. That doesn't give the attacker much reason to pause.



Yes, maximizing the opponent's humiliation by demonstrating a contemptuous superiority is perfectly in tune with Laranian values.

Heh.

Just kidding. Yeah, Sturmer passed Larani's test. Remiu didn't. He really should have recanted, and then graciously agreed to accept the crusade. He could have returned to Kaldor in a couple years with his honor redeemed. Pity him, ye knights, and learn from his example.

Peanuts are South American, although they were spread quite widely relatively rapidly: introduced to China in the 1600s, for example. Walnuts became widespread in Europe during Roman times, and Hazelnuts are native to Turkey and SE Europe/SW Asia in general. Pistachios and almonds (not true nuts) are native to the Levant area and environs. So on Harn, I'd say walnuts would be the most common (although the Lythian "Roman Empire", the Azeryna, never reached that far, it's likely been imported). The SE European nuts would be common in Karejia at least.




A hemophiliac now-knight, eh? I'd say very interested. Certainly sounds like a good campaign you've got going.

And it continues.....

The hemophiliac knight keeps finding himself at the wrong place at the wrong time.

He is being courted by Lady Blyra Kaphin, (whether he realizes it or not.)
He has made a pact with the Tashal navehans AND the Knight Marshal (Talk about conflicting loyalties), he still claims to be the Earls man (Dariune that is..)
He survived the Jedes horse fair, but two of his companions were lost...one was murdered.
He found the missing bailiff of Chewintin, Krisagon, living regally with the Kath, who had supposedly died of an infection, but is sworn to secrecy.
He has befreinded both Kath and Pagaelin, but not a noble will accept him.

He is on Crusade against the Navehans influence of the Pagaelin, but doesnt know what that means other than that they are supposed to be releasing an imprisoned demon.

He was recognized by Sindarin at the horse fair as the fabled, "Bloody Handed" a cryptic prophecy that has to do with the Demon Aedlad.

Now, he is trying to unearth a dead Jarin chief under the nose of the Baron of Kobing.....

Meanwhile, people are scheming and dying in Asolade.....

Ahh........drama at its best!

And he shows his devotion by having her tortured by his Navehan allies. Oh, well. Every romance has its rough spots.