MaliQuest: The First Playtest

Good Wednesday everyone!

So here we are, 2013 and only a few weeks away from NFN being 1 year old!

But that is not what I am here to discuss with you today.

Oh no, today is all about my very first play through of MaliQuest!

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Allow me to set the scene, it's New Year's Eve, the kid is in bed for her mid-day nap, I've spent the past 2 hrs building a Dungeon, and we're about to get started.

Mrs Loxley creates her first character, Sissy the Showgirl who can immobilise and cast fire spells.

She enters the dungeon and is attacked by a Terror Tot.

Immediately we encounter a problem, her current gear set up, the Fire Spell and Immobilise, are not suitable, mainly the Immobilise is a waste of 1AP. We soldier on, and she is rewarded with a common loot drop in the form of Gremlin Moonshine.

Using the moonshine out of combat she takes herself back to full wounds and enters the next room:

Ahead are 2x Rotten Bells, between the fire spells and occasional immobilise the bells are defeated - just.

Looting the corpses she is rewarded with 2 weapons, a Peacebringer and a Crossbow - both common.

Moving ahead she is met by an Alp, and in a single fire spell the Alp falls dropping a Df chest piece.

Sissy the Showgirl is now Df7, but still can only take a few wounds, and as she rounds the next room she encounters the first trap of the dungeon: The Spike Trap!

It was decided that this would be dealt with as an opposed duel, where the GM determines the Cb equivalent. In this case it was CbE6 and after the duel a damage flip of 1/2/3 was flipped.

Following on there were more undead and Neverborn culminating in a movement heavy fight between a Mature Nephilm and Sissy.

At the end of the game, Sissy walked away wearing Wp Goggles, Df Chest, Ca Gloves, an Immobilisation Orb, a Mechanical Assistant, 2 types of flame spells, Gremlin Moonshine and a Wooden Bullet loaded Peacebringer.

But what did we learn?

1). A lot of the non-damaging abilities seem quite surplus to requirement when put against 2 damaging attacks. Yes you can immobilise a Tot and blast it for 2 turns with fire, but you run the risk of the immobilise being resisted and being charged, where 2 fire blasts in a row will deal with the problem without that worry.
- Because of this, the Immobilise Orb has been changed from a (1) action to a (0) action. The same has happened to the Mechanical Assistant.

2). We also found out that healing is just too easy, and even with negative modifiers, there is nothing to stop the player when outside of combat just standing there healing themselves to full.

Healing should be something that is few and far between. For this reason the Bandages Artifact will have Charges, much like ammo.
Gremlin Moonshine has been removed from Common and Uncommon, meaning only Rare and Epic remain.

3). Equipping gear while in combat is currently a no-no because of the 1AP per item requirement, and the reward for switching items does not even draw near to the risk of losing 1AP.
- Equipping/Swopping gear has now changed. Equipment (Head, Chest, Gloves and Boots) can not be swopped while in combat. Weapons, Artifacts and Mods can be swopped at 2 items per (0) used. This means you can swop out your Greatsword for a Peacebringer (1 item) and Equip it with Special Ammo (2 items) and then make 2 Strikes with the Peacebringer, all in 1 turn.

4). Turn taking has also been modified.

For Multiplayer Parties, it remains as standard, the GM activated a model, then the party does, them the GM etc.

In Singleplayer Parties this means any room with more than 1 monster results in the player being out activated and out gunned. For this reason in SP Parties, if there are 2 monsters in a room and the GM wins the initiative then it plays out as follows:
Monster 1, Player, Monster 2, Player, Monster 1 etc.

And on that note, the first play test results are in.

I'm happy overall, the aim is to see what works and what doesn't, and I'm slowly getting there with that.

For now, stay safe, and I'll see you all Breachside!

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley