Atlantean Exodus: Perennial RPG, Playtest Report 1

I have enough material to start playtesting what I’m calling Perennial RPG (the system) and Atlantean Exodus (the setting). Previously, I had run two sessions with a couple players using Cha’alt. Now we were going to use a system conversion of the Caves of Chaos from B1: The Keep on the Borderlands.

Setting Summary

To start the session, I summarized the setting for the players:

“Atlantis, the greatest continent in the world, has sunk beneath the waves. Forewarned of the impending catastrophe, you have escaped to a strange land with your lives and with the seeds of civilization, if you can keep them.”

I told the players that their characters belong to a remnant of Atlantis that survived and reached the shore of an unknown continent. This remnant has formed a caravan that is exploring the new land.

Caravan Creation

The caravan concept factors strongly into the game. From members of the caravan, the players draw their current and future characters.

Character options are dependent on the composition of the caravan, and are gained or lost due to the actions of caravan members and the characters. 

For example, if there are no astrologers in the caravan, the PCs might, in exploring a ruined site, discover a stone tablet in a strange language that can be translated to restore the caravan’s knowledge of astrology. 

Then this knowledge of astrology would give the caravan the benefit of better navigation in it travels, as well as allowing players to predetermine certain aspects of new characters, because the astrologers would have a hand in guiding parents in timing of the conception of their children.

I won’t go into more detail about caravan creation just yet. But for the sake of the playtest, we did two rounds of character creation, one round as if the caravan had knowledge of astrology and one round without.

Character Creation

I gave the players a summary of character creation.

1. Roll Abilities

Characters have six abilities: Perception, Reason, Intuition, Drive, Agility, and Strength. Each ability starts at zero.

Roll 6d6. For each die result, add 1 to that ability (see below). Then take an additional 1d6 and roll or choose the result, and add 1 to that ability.

  • On a roll of 1, add 1 to Perception
  • On a roll of 2, add 1 to Reason
  • On a roll of 3, add 1 to Intuition
  • On a roll of 4, add 1 to Drive
  • On a roll of 5, add 1 to Agility
  • On a roll of 6, add 1 to Strength

Now each ability should range between zero and seven.

Example Ability Roll

Six 6-sided dice are rolled (red, orange, yellow, green blue, indigo… I’ll explain why we’re using multicolored dice in a future session report).

Then one six-sided die result is chosen (violet).

The results are:

  • Perception +1 (one die came up as a 1)
  • Reason +1 (one die came up as a 2)
  • Intuition +1 (one die came up as a 3)
  • Drive +0 (zero dice came up as a 4)
  • Agility +1 (one die came up as a 5)
  • Strength +3 (two dice came up as a 6 and one was chosen as a 6)

2. Record Hit Points

Total the numbers on the seven dice and record as Hit Points, ranging from 7 to 42.

Example Hit Points

The total on the dice roll gives 29 Hit Points.

3. Record Fortune Points

If you have one or two abilities greater than zero, record 1 Fortune Point.
If you have three or four abilities greater than zero, record 2 Fortune Points.
If you have five or six abilities greater than zero, record 3 Fortune Points.

Example Fortune Points

There were five different abilities recorded that were greater than zero, giving 3 Fortune Points.

4. Choose a Class

Choose a class. Each class has one or two associated abilities. You must have a 2 or higher in that ability to qualify for the class.

Basic Classes (associated ability)

  • Seer (Perception)
  • Magician (Reason)
  • Priest (Intuition)
  • Envoy (Drive)
  • Skirmisher (Agility)
  • Soldier (Strength)

Advanced Classes (and associated abilities)

  • Astrologer (Perception, Reason)
  • Exorcist (Perception, Intuition)
  • Conjurer (Perception, Drive)
  • Hunter (Perception, Agility)
  • Herdsman (Perception, Strength)
  • Physician (Reason, Intuition)
  • Orator (Reason, Drive)
  • Explorer (Reason, Agility)
  • Artisan (Reason, Strength)
  • Prophet (Intuition, Drive)
  • Judge (Intuition, Agility)
  • Holy Protector (Intuition, Strength)
  • Spy (Drive, Agility)
  • Warlord (Drive, Strength)
  • Brawler (Agility, Strength)
  • Initiate (special)

Record class abilities and starting equipment (not shown). Also write down your level, which starts at 1 and goes as high as 10. There are a few more details about character creation that I’ll get into another time.

The Actual Characters

Once we were past character creation Q&A, actual character creation was fast because it used a single dice throw plus a few choices.

Without the caravan having knowledge of astrology (more random):

  • Player 1 rolled up a priest.
  • Player 2 rolled up a priest.
  • Player 3 rolled up a priest.
  • Player 4 rolled up a skirmisher.

With the caravan having knowledge of astrology (less random):

  • Player 1 rolled up a priest.
  • Player 2 rolled up a magician.
  • Player 3 rolled up a soldier.
  • Player 4 rolled up a skirmisher.

We thought it was pretty funny that their first round of character creation resulted in 3 priests, but it illustrated the effects of the caravan lacking certain knowledge. And while there’s nothing wrong with a party of priests, we wanted to maximize playtesting different classes, so we used the second party.

Gameplay

I told the PCs that their caravan has been forewarned of cold weather approaching and would need shelter. Scouts spotted caves in a nearby canyon. So the PCs went to investigate.

The PCs scanned the canyon for cave entrances (with Perception rolls). I explained how ability rolls worked. Most of the rules were explained as situations came up or questions were asked.

Ability Rolls

  • Roll 3d6 and add the appropriate ability (Perception, Reason, Intuition, Drive, Agility, Strength).
  • If your class is associated with that ability, you can also add your level to the roll.

Success or failure depends on the difficulty of the task.

  • Very Easy: 4
  • Easy: 8
  • Moderate: 12
  • Hard: 16
  • Very Hard: 20
  • Nearly Impossible: 24
  • Rolling higher indicated success.
  • Rolling lower indicated failure.
  • Rolling exactly the number indicated neither success nor failure.
  • Rolling a natural 3 indicated a critical failure.
  • Rolling a natural 18 indicated a critical success.

I also explained how Fortune Points worked.

Fortune and Misfortune

  • When you’re making an ability roll, you can spend a Fortune Point to roll with Fortune. Instead of 3d6, roll 6d6 and keep the best three dice for your ability roll. Sometimes, you can gain Fortune without spending Fortune Points, at the discretion of the GM.
  • Sometimes you can gain Misfortune on an ability roll, at the discretion of the GM. Instead of 3d6, roll 6d6 and keep the worst three dice for your ability roll.

After these explanations and four Perception rolls, the party spotted some of the cave entrances. They didn’t spot all of them because some were harder to spot than they rolled, and they didn’t thoroughly search the area.

  • The skirmisher scouted ahead of the rest of the part.
  • The skirmisher crept quietly to the cave opening (using an Agility rolls to sneak).
  • The skirmisher, not seeing anything inside, walked quietly into the cave.
  • Beyond the opening, the tunnel forked into darkness.
  • The skirmisher listened and could hear strange guttural voices (with a Perception roll to listen).
  • The skirmisher reported back.

After reporting back about the dark cave that he could hear voices but could not understand them, the party proceeded into the cave.

Wonder-Working

  • The priest prayed and performed a wonder to illuminate the cave tunnels.
  • The magician performed a wonder to understand what the voices were saying.

Basically, wonder-working is the magic system used in this game. Seers, magicians, priests, and envoys begin the game knowing all of the lesser wonders for spiritism, magic, miracles, and mentalism, respectively. To work a wonder requires a successful Ability roll (Perception, Reason, Intuition, and Drive, respectively), and the difficulty depends on the specific wonder. Bringing forth miraculous illumination is an easy Intuition roll for a priest; calling for Divine Intervention is nearly impossible. Failure has variable results, from losing the ability to work that wonder for a short time, to hit point loss, to worse.

Game-wise, all of the lesser wonders a character can know fit on a single sheet of paper for easy reference. It was a great relief to the players whose characters could work wonders to not have to choose spells, or fill out spell slots, etc.

Combat

The party entered the cave where they heard voices. Inside were six goblins with spears. (As this is a conversion of a D&D module, in the future, creatures encountered in the Atlantean Exodus setting might not be exactly same).

After initial reactions and very brief negotiations, two goblins threw a sack through a secret back door in the cave, and out came an ogre!

Monster stat blocks look like this:

  • Goblin: Level 1, HP 2, PD 10, spear +1, see in darkness
  • Ogre: Level 4, S6, HP 48, PD 15, heavy weapon +10, see in darkness

Like other situations, combat is a matter of describing actions and making appropriate ability rolls, depending on the actions taken and weapons used and armor worn. I won’t go into all the mechanics here, but so far, the combat mechanics seem smooth and worked as I expected.

To attack, roll the ability associated with the weapon (Strength, for example), plus level if applicable. Your opponent can take an active defense (if he can), and the greater of the active defense roll (from blocking, dodging, parrying, etc.) or passive defense (armor) is subtracted from the ability roll. The result is the amount of damage inflicted to the opponent hit points.

What was notable from the combat:

  • The soldier held off the ogre for much of the fight because he had heavy armor and was much more skilled in combat than the rest of the party. This was good, because the ogre could have easily crushed the other party members with a single blow from his club.
  • The magician performed several wonders successfully and creatively, one of which caused the ogre to drop his club.
  • The skirmisher watched for openings to take advantage and dispatched several goblins, exactly as expected. When the fight became more direct, he sustained some injuries.
  • The priest prayed to heal the skirmisher mid-combat, but the prayer wasn’t heard, so she pulled out her mace and also dispatched several goblins.

I was happy that the players picked up all of the fundamentals of the system very quickly just from my brief explanations and by playing them.

We all had fun, and we’re all looking forward to our next session in a couple weeks!