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Re: (TFT) Death Test I (spoilers, if you care)



There's really no maze in DT -- just keep going west. A party as you describe can make it through, but often will die. At the least, you have to get through the 4 goblins in the Azure room and the Giant in the Violet room. And you'll have to go through at least 2 other combats (and as many as 4) on a 'straight' line. Some combinations of figures work better than others. You really need archers. You really need guys with armour. And you need someone who can deal enough damage regularly to knock down a 1 hex figure, and preferablt a giant (though that's uncommon). In short, you need to deal damage while not taking it yourself. Don't forget the dodge and defend options, and always get the from behind or side bonus. Just wading in an chopping away doesn't work in the long term. One thing with DT is that there's no rules for any recovery at all. That makes it pretty hard, especially on Wizards. When I play with ITL rules, I allow enough time in a hallway/room for a Physicker to do their thing, and a Wizard to get back 1 ST. That makes it a lot more survivable. So let's look at the map.
The first room is Red, with the chests and spiders. Why bother?

Along the south, you'll then have the Silver, with the 3 guys who won't fight if you don't, then the Yellow with the 3 bowmen. The bowmen are set up so that there's no way short of Teleport to engage all of them on the first turn. And if yu don't have initialtive, their best move is to keep it that way. They only do 1-1, but the unengaged ones are doing it twice. If you engage one, he only gets hits one last shot, and has to change weapons. So you're probably going to give up your first attack to get engagement, while taking 1-1. If you aren't slowed down by armour. Otherwise, you'll have to advance while dodging. In the middle, theree's the Gold room with 2 bears. That's tough stuff, but at least you start with initiative. Probably best to start shooting at them, and get your high-damage guy into a position where he can knock them down. But that's 60 ST you have to do to them. Whoever's in front of them definitely needs to defend -- 2 dice is no laughing matter. To the north, you have the Indigo room with the 2 orcs. You can get out the west side, if you can get there. If you're just trying to get out, then it's defend and disengage and double-team and hope for initiative. Because they're rolled on the table, the orcs could have anything. Then the Green room with 4 fighters or the one wizard. The wizard either dies the first turn, or may do some serious damage. If you get the 4 fighters, you better attack, or they get a free round. It's a straight up fight, which means using your ranged weapons as long as you can, getting engagement if you must, defending and dodging while your buddies do the damage. At this point, there's a north-south corridor. Continuing to the south, you have the Copper room, where the fighters are. Assuming you haven't lost anyone, you'll have to fight. You might be able to dash across dodging if they have bows, or you'll have to kill them as usual. Next is the Brown room with the 3 wolves. Woe to you if you lose initiative, as the wolves all go for the same guy, who's the easiest to kill. But it will give a chance for the others to get good shots if you play it right. Otherwise, the unengaged wolves will do that. In the middle, you have the Black room, with the choke point. If you have a wizard, so do they, otherwise, they're off the table. Choose to fight, you get the initiative the first turn. Another straight up fight, but since they're off the table, you don't know what they have immediately. To the north, you have the Orange room, with the gargoyle who wants to try HTH. If he doesn't get HTH, at least the victim can defend. If he gets it, everyone else can get the +4 and roll to miss. Next is the White room with the 3 hobgoblins. This should be an easy fight if you have archers. They're on the other side of the room, and if they follw their tactics, they're going to have to get closer to throw their axes. There's no point in going to them unless they come to you. Then we hit the ending rooms. The Azure room has 4 goblins, again maybe with wizards. The non-wizars are archers, so you'll want to engage them fast. Fortunately, you can do this if you get initiative. Then the Violet room with the appearing giant. You're best off standing in the entrance and using missle weapons. Or get your tank to engage and defend. But it's the last room.
Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com

Quoting gem6868 <gem6868@verizon.net>:
Greetings All,
Played Melee in early 80s, buying the little boxes at my local hobby shop. After SJ left Metagaming, we moved on to GURPS, and my TFT items have been
neglected ever since (to the extent I've no idea where any of them are).  In
honor of my 25th HS graduation this year, I decided to indulge in some
purposeful nostalgia.  I've downloaded the TFT items from Brainiac, and am
now playing around with just Melee.
After some arena combat, I sent a group of four into DT1.  They got through
four rooms OK, but in the fifth room I lost one to a '4' hit, and then in
room 5 the rest got wiped out.  It seems to me that while my characters had
decent gear and experience, they didn't have the advantage they needed to
survive multiple combats and a little luck on the part of the attackers. They've about 26pts on average (ST13, DX13, no IQ), and 2-4 pts of armor. They've solid DX and are usually adjusted better than their adversaries.
Are these four too weak to make it through?  And is DT1 more about finding a
path through the maze and surviving rather than clearing it out?  I may have
taken an approach that was too aggressive. Thanks for any thoughts / advice. Alex
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