Arthur Galpin
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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How could the hunters track the fiend were he not such a creature of habit?
Dracula 1d6+2 = (1) + 2 = 3 attempts to mesmerize Lord Godalming 1d6 = (3) = 3 who brandishes his fisticuffs.
Lord Godalming is too busy feebly pummeling Dracula to be bothered with is mesmerization attempt. Continue 2.
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Arthur Galpin
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Round 4.
Lord Godalming 1d6 = (2) = 2 once again pulls out his stake but is met with the mighty strength of Dracula 1d6+1 = (2) + 1 = 3
Dracula wrenches the stake from Lord Godalming's hands and breaks it into pieces. Lord Godalming shudders with fear at the sight, and flees into the night.
Stake Destroyed. Continue 3. Combat over.
Turn 17.2. Doctor Seward.
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Eric
United States
Maumee
Ohio
God created Arrakis to train the faithful.
All persons are contained within a single individual, just as all time is in a moment, and the entire universe is in a grain of sand. -Fremen Saying
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We shall meet again fiend.
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Unless any Hunter objects Doctor moves to Toulluese and takes no action
It'll make sure, he doesn't flee from Spain, while LG may escape to See in case he'll get bitten.
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I would favour DS using event #1. Remember he has Unearthly Swiftness, so he can be in Alicante in one move and away to sea. Or he could feed in Santander, putting him into the '2 kills needed' track and then attack a completely exposed LG. Why muck about?! Let's take him down now! Even if it's only a couple of blood it severely limits his sea options, with the rest of us bearing down on Spain.
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We have options to make his escape impossible and I may be bitten and than killed, which is not possible with LG, who is bite-free now.
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I may get bitten first time in my turn, and than second time in Dracs turn, which will be equivalent to kill.
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Are you advocating that we pen him in till daytime, then? Or make him come to us? I honestly think he'll get away. A wolf form to Alicante and then US to sea for 2 zones. Next zone is free of blood loss and then he's in the East heading for the castle.
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I may take that risk and try to take him down, if any other Hunter agrees.
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Pedro Pereira
Portugal
Guimaraes
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I agree on taking him down! The sooner the better, if we drag this it only gives D the chance to re-equip and better strategise leaving us with less time to do what's inevitable.
Also, the event deck is to our favour right now, so if we weaken D even further, it will make it even more difficult for him should he survive (probably will but weaker) these coming battles... rather than wasting the favourable event deck when he is still fairly ok.
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The thing about FoD is that it always comes down to a dice roll to kill D, whereas D can win by evading combat. My ethos is that I'd rather lose to a bad die roll having done everything I can to win than be beaten outright by my opponent's guile. Having said that, I don't know how desperate Dave is feeling just now, or how likely he is to try and grind out the result, so I can't judge whether he'd even stay for the fight, as that would also put him in position to lose on a poor roll.
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Arthur Galpin
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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By GM, Doctor Seward plays Sense of Emergency. Doctor Seward is reduced to 7 health and is now in Santander. The doctor was very clear in his instructions, which makes my life easy. Dracula's cards are clear as well, so the combat will begin quite swiftly.
The hunters pass on all cards. Dracula plays no cards. Doctor Seward plays garlic. He has chosen his first weapon, I await Dracula's.
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Arthur Galpin
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Dracula 1d6 = (3) = 3 is eager to continue to flex his strength, while Dr Seward 1d6 = (3) = 3 attempts to hold him off with punches.
The ghoulishly contorted fists of Dracula enclose around Doctor Sewards right hand, crushing it and forcing bones to poke through the flesh in a grisly fashion. Doctor Seward is reduced to 4 health.
Round 2.
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Arthur Galpin
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Dripping with blood, Doctor Seward mutters "lets finish this fiend."
Doctor Seward 1d6 = (6) = 6 utilizes his remaining hand to brandish a stake hidden under his cloak while Dracula 1d6 = (4) = 4 attempts to rake it away with his claws.
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Arthur Galpin
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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Inopportune timing as I have to run but didn't want to leave all of you hanging. Needless to say: well done hunters. I have some thoughts on this game, curious to hear everyone's.
edit: Dracula has been defeated.
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dave 65tdh
United States
San Diego
California
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Oh well, I had a good plan that would have worked except for the Great Strength. Good game hunters. And nice job moderating.
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Pedro Pereira
Portugal
Guimaraes
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Haha! I feel almost like I had an important part in this victory! Although, I'm pleased to have played the heavenly Host were I did, which reduced the possibilities quite a bit for Dracula!
Never underestimate a Woman's intuition!
Congrats to you Guys and thanks to Dave for being a sneaky Dracula! I'm getting a better understanding of this game with every PBF! So thank you for having me along!
Thanks Arthur for great modding!
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Good Game. Drac was really short of luck this time.
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Arthur Galpin
United States
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
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The first part of this game was evolving into a victory for Dracula on somewhat of a cruise ship. A nice little luxury liner leaving from Ireland complete with a maturing vampire and no newspaper reports (1*). Heading into the Mediterranean area of his voyage the use of the money trail gave the hunters an idea of where he was after his trail was cleared. However his trail was then clear and he could have gone east, west, or to land. The game could have quickly gotten out of control for the hunters. Dracula was accumulating events and gaining a disproportionate advantage (2*).
Van Helsings dogged pursuit though led to the uncovering of the minion on Cagliari. He was ill prepared for the battle there with a minion, but good use of Escape Route bailed him out once, and he was able to get away the second time with a minimum amount of damage. Unfortunately for Dracula his location was discovered quite early. At this point I believe he had 3 New Vampires and was just waiting for a place to put them.
After getting caught again in Spain by the pesky Van Helsing, the double-back into the atlantic almost worked out. In hindsight it appears that the English Channel->England option would have worked out best, though the hunters had just drawn Stormy Seas that next turn. Instead the Bay of Biscay was a risky play that had a good possibility for great reward. The options for Dracula were limited with Mina covering the Bays east, and some hunters might not have chosen to check all the exit points from the Bay. Dracula remained in place though because the exit routes outside of wolf-form were so obvious, and I believe because he was starting to worry about blood from the sea voyages (3*).
Had Lord Godalming not checked Santander Dracula likely would have won as he slipped east/south with his vampires. Had Lord Godalming got bit once by the two New Vampires Lord Godalming likely would have been hit with a Fangs and the game would have probably been over. Instead the hunters accumulated a very nice collection of events that they used to great effect on the last round: Good Luck, Great Strength, Sense of Emergency, and the fact that Lord Godalming was armed with the surprising Knife/Stake/Stake combo.
The game sat in high tension after Cagliari was discovered and remained there. Before that I thought the game was surely Dracula's, after that I thought it stood a good chance of going either way. You never really know until that last combat. Had Doctor Seward failed to kill Dracula, Dracula's wolf ability combined with unearthly swiftness would have taken him into the mist once again and he still had a New Vampire to lay, as well as some other treats.
All in all, well played. I thought the game was quite exciting. Thanks everyone for bearing with me as I learned the ropes my first time moderating through. I enjoyed it enough that I would expect to get a game started again within a week or so.
1*) For the record, the first Newspaper Reports was I believe about the 34th event in the deck. There were about 5 stacked between 34 and 45. The hunters lack of them enabled them to get other events though which ultimately decided the game. I think this suggests how important NPs actually are (don't get me wrong, I still love them as hunters).
2*) At its peak I believe Dracula had drawn about 40% of the events. This was before about 12 hunter events in a row. The hunters were about to enter another mixed bag after the next event draw, they chose to stop drawing bountifully at exactly the right moment.
3*) Interestingly, Sister Agatha really didn't do too much in this game.
Any suggestions / improvements for my moderating I would greatly appreciate either here or in GM. Thanks all for being quite prompt and attentive in responses and ultimately quite entertaining.
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Pedro Pereira
Portugal
Guimaraes
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Very insightful analysis. Thanks very much indeed, that was very useful! And congratulations on your first time modding which was quite professional!
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Definitely a big thanks to Arthur for moderating. The game went very smoothly with no real issues.
The move into the Bay was a big gamble for sure, but the dividends would have been huge. I did wonder about batting LG to Cadiz, as it made it too easy to get to sea and after D, but I had largely discounted the idea, so kudos to Mina for blocking the French ports. That was pivotal. But Dave played a pretty shrewd game. Sometimes there's just no accounting for the hunters deciding to check that location 'just in case'!
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That was over surprisingly fast.
I assume Dave didn't count on Godalming not checking Santander. On the contrary, the nighttime ambush with two New Vampires and Seduction had a very good chance of securing his victory. But the combination of Godalming's items, the events, and some luck with the dice turned all that to the hunters' advantage.
Regarding Sister Agatha, Dave will have to comment on that in detail, but merely by making Fangs so costly, I suspect she had an influence on Dave's combat choices, even though Rage and Garlic prevented Escape.
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Posted Sat Feb 4, 2012 4:14 pm
