KGS Podcast - Episode 00030 - Lone Wolf RPG Review

KEYSTONE GAMING SOCIETY REVIEW
GAME:	LONE WOLF RPG
PUBLISHER:	MONGOOSE
THE RATINGS:
SCOTT:
OLD BRIAN:
YOUNG BRYAN:
DAVE:
TISHA:
SAM:

Lone Wolf Multiplayer: Radak's Revenge Adventure Review

WARNING! SPOILERS! 

Radak's Revenge, a Lone Wolf Multiplayer adventure from Signs and Portents #88, is a fairly decent adventure. The storyline is that an evil druid has set a trap for the party, luring them with false information. 

I ran this adventure with a group of five players playing a Kai Lord, Knight of the White Mountain, Magician of Dessi, Drawven Gunner of Bor, Border Ranger of the North. 

First, the good... 
1) This adventure really gives different classes time to shine. I liked how it included a ship so any Buccaneers could show off their skills. 
2) The adventure is nicely paced. Lots of action, but it is balanced with tons of role playing opportunties. 
3) The adventures allows for clever heroes to avoid combat through using their disciplines. 
4) I liked how the other passengers on the ship were notable NPC's in character classes. I just wish (see #3 below)... 
5) This adventure does a nice job of "directing" the heroes without making it seem as if they don't have choices. 
6) I also liked the options for the heroes to heal up in the middle of the adventure and do some shopping when they get to Seroa. 

Finally, the bad... 
1) The plot is a little obscure. There really is no way for the heroes to every truly understand the backstory of the Druid. Also, the threat seems to be a little great (killing all magic users in Magnamund) to send novice heroes on this adventure. Also, isn't there any easier way to capture a single magic user than this elaborate plot? 
2) Simply put, if you run this adventure as it is written, you will kill your party. It is advertised for 4-6 players and says if you have more or less than that you will have to make adjustments. Having 5 players, I kept the numbers the same and I killed three player characters. Several things up the lethality considerably. 
a)Shakara's wildfire - Doing DOUBLE a random number roll, this potent mixture could do anywhere from 2 - 18 damage to EVERY TARGET IN A TEN FOOT RADIUS. I believe I got a middle number (7x2=14) and this came directly after the brutal Storgh combat. Considering most heroes have somewhere around 25 HP TOTAL, this is WAY too much damage. 
b) The ambush. At one point, there is an ambush of TEN Beastmen. In the first round of combat they attack with bows. This combat alone could be a TPK! What makes it worse is Shakara, if not previously discovered, chooses this moment to attack! 
c) The Cener Druid in the final combat has eight beastmen AND a ranged attack that does double or triple damage. YIKES! Triple damage alone could kill a player character in a single round! 
3) I wish that the NPCs were more fully fleshed out as far as disciplines. The adventure says Shakara is an assassin, but she looks like a buccaneer. Ulnic and Mulnic are Knights of Illion. Radak is a Cener Druid. But none of these characters are presented with the disciplines their classes should provide. What rank are they? The captain also seems to need a little bit more fleshing out. Sure, the DM can make this stuff up but it would be nice if it came with the adventure already. 

Overall, I feel as if the problems with this adventure can be overcome with some advanced planning and work on the part of the DM. I give this adventure a recommendation- 7 out of 10.

Lone Wolf Multiplayer at CSW "Magnamundays" Session #1

So Dave ran Marlin, Sam, and I through an introductory Lone Wolf Multiplayer adventure last Monday.

I think a good time was had by all. Dave narrated a rather bizarre tale that centered around cheese and mobile mushrooms. Dave did a.... very believable "impression" of a crazy person. We played the rules "as written" and I just simply find the combat resolution system to be ineffective and actually not a whole lot of fun. Where's the fun when the enemies never independently attack you? Kinda a weird system. Still, it's a LOT better than DnD4.Essentials. Essentials should have been more like LWM and a lot less like 4.0 DnD.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to another gaming session next month. Remember - the 4th Monday of each month at Comic Store West, Dave's going to be running Lone Wolf Mulitplayer - all are welcome! Fun if you're an old fan or just looking for a quick, easy rules-lite fantasy RPG!

Magnamundays at CSW

Starting this upcoming Monday, the forth Monday of each month  you will be able to be mystically whisked away to Magnamund, the world in which the Lone Wolf solo adventure books and RPG is set. This event is called Magnamundays! Dave Kot, friend of KGS, will be running Lone Wolf Multiplayer for anyone who wishes to play! So grab a D10 and head to Comic Store West to check out this simple gaming system set in the complex world of Magnamund! FOR SUMMERLUND!

Lone Wolf Multiplayer: First Gaming Session Notes

For Open RPG Day at Comic Store West, I ran Lone Wolf Multiplayer. This was my first time running or even playing LWM and I was quite thrilled to do so, being a huge fan of the class '80's solo adventure books.

I ran the adventure, Radak's Revenge, published in Signs and Portents #88 from Mongoose Publishing. There were five people in my gaming group: Dave1, Dave2, Craig, John, and Mike. The party consisted of a Kai Lord, Knight, Dessi Magician, Dwarven Gunner of Bor, and a Ranger.

ACTION SUMMARY: Sent on a mission to stop an evil Cener Druid, the party gained passage on a ship to reach their destination. They met four other passengers: Shakara the adventuress, Vemsen the merchant, and Ulnic and Mulnic, twin Knights. Pirates attack but a clever use of the Elemental discipline allows Craig to thwart the pirate attack without ever engaging in combat. Unfortunately, two headed crocodile creatures named Storghs attack and the party barely survives. It is in this sad state that they discover the Storghs were no random encounter but that they were lured to the ship by a traitor. A quick interrogation of the passengers reveals that Shakara was responsible. Her treachery revealed, she unleashed a fiery attack, killing the Kai Lord in his weakened state before being slain herself.
The party reaches their destination and coincidentally finds another Knight to replace their fallen comrade. After purchasing horses they set off to the village where the Cener Druid is located. Once again using their disciplines wisely, they avoid a deathly ambush by Beastmen and arrive at the village. They quickly attacked by Beastmen and the druid. The ranger falls victim to the druid's wrath and with the party on its last legs they manage to eek out a victory, stopping the druid's dark plans.

It's my belief that all involved had quite a good time. I thought the adventure was very well written and I thought that the players really used their characters to their fullest potential. I did homebrew some combat rules including an alternate combat results table which you can find linked under RPG documents on the right.

In conclusion, I'm looking forward to playing Lone Wolf Multiplayer RPG again soon and I would like to thank Dave, Dave, Craig, Mike, and John for a wonderful afternoon of gaming. FOR SOMMERLUND!

Lone Wolf Multiplayer - Open RPG Day at CSW

On Saturday, March 12 for Open RPG Day I will be running the Lone Wolf Multiplayer RPG game at Comic Store West in the early session. In the 80's there was a series of books called Lone Wolf. These books were very popular and have a very devoted fanbase even today. The concept is a choose-your-own-adventure style "solo adventure book." It allowed you to role play with the book itself essentially being the DM. Like regular tabletop role playing you have a character sheet with stats and items. This character gains abilities from book to book and an item you picked up in book three may prove useful in book seven. You never know. You experience combat that is much like a regular RPG - you have combat skill and endurance and randomize combat results based on your relative toughness of your enemy. There were quite a few other solo adventure books like Lone Wolf but none executed the concept quite as well.

Recently, Mongoose Publishing has begun releasing the Lone Wolf novels again and TWO multiplayer RPG systems based in the Lone Wolf world. The first is a D20 "DnD-style" game. The second is a much more stripped down version that more closely resembles the original books but is designed as a traditional multiplayer RPG.

Whether or not you're a fan of the original books I encourage you to take a trip to Magnamund with me and experience the adventure of Lone Wolf on March 12th at Comic Store West. FOR SUMMERLUND!