Surviving Fatal Injuries

     Something I have come across in my games, is too much death (or not enough death, but that's for a different day.) If a player is struck down, RAW, they die. Instead, this post is a guide to revive those players, but with injuries, like those presented in Battle Brothers.

    First up, are hits to the head and face. On a hit to the head by a blunt weapon, you are just considered dead. A hit to the head with a cutting attack, you might be hit in the ear or jaw, causing horrible scarring or loss of hearing. A hit to the head with a piercing attack will either cause death, or possibly a loss of IQ. Slashes and blunt attacks to the face might cause broken noses (or missing noses), damaged eyes, missing teeth, or gaining a negative Appearance. An injured nose (or windpipe) causes temporary max fatigue and smell loss. Getting hit in the ear will cause hearing loss, either temporarily or for the rest of their life, depending on severity.

    Hits to the body are much more forgiving. A piercing attack in the arm or leg might cause a pierced muscle, which will lower your combat skills temporarily or lower your basic move, depending on hit location. A blow to the vitals might collapse your lung partially, making you lose maximum FP, or maybe your heart was weakened, losing maximum HP. Getting hit in the arms might also make you lose striking ST temporarily, depending on the type of the wound.

    Now, using this system requires a large balance of death and destruction. You might die, but three or four enemies will die in return. My favorite mechanic to add is using Will as a morale check, with enemies losing morale quickly as they take HP damage or watch their friends die. Same story goes for the brave adventurers, though they are definitely more fearless than the brigands of the north they've found. If you use a similar system (or this exists RAW and I somehow missed it) reach out! I'd love to hear how you run injuries in your games.

Workshopping More Impressive Boss Fights

     GURPS is fickle when it comes to bosses. Yes, you could have an unkillable warrior who is dedicated to ripping apart anyone who stands in their way, but that would mean the players are completely unable to fight against them. In this short article, I will describe how I've created a scheme to provide cinematic boss fights in my games, without outright dominating the battlefield.

    The first step, is one often repeated. USE HENCHMEN. No battle is complete without grunts on the battlefield. There are two interesting ways to do it. One is to have a few warriors that are well armored but provide protection to the boss preventing them from being damaged. The other has respawning grunts that keep coming to attack the party but are weak and just distractions.

    Two is to not have the boss have tricks up their sleeves. One I have experimented with recently after a Battle Brothers fight gone wrong against some barbarians is to utilize "Heroic Feats of ####". In this specific scenario, the barbarian boss would activate both HF:BS and HF:ST to overwhelm a cocky player, but it will only last for three or so seconds. Use this time to let the boss refresh themselves and ward off the player, but give them hints about this newfound power. It is bad practice to suddenly whip out changes halfway through the fight without warning or informing the players.

    Finally, make the boss use the environment to their advantage. Large red barrels, hidden traps, weak columns, turrets, or healing shrines. The environment is an important part of the fight, but make sure you let the players use it too. It is completely fair for a player to use their intuition to shoot the red barrel next to the boss if they have been using the barrels to blow up areas the entire fight. I hope that today's post helps you guys make more fun and interesting boss fights. If it doesn't, thank you for reading on regardless!

Fantasy Monsters - the Hru, the Gargu-Khanu, and the Greater Ivashu

         The Hru, Gargu-Khanu (Orcs, Greater), and the Ivashu are all excellent picks for fantasy monsters to be integrated into your world. While I will not provide any stat blocks yet, I will explain why they are interesting. These are all ripped from the Harn setting, which I am still on a kick of, as previously mentioned. First, we will look at the Hru. 

    "The Hru is a gentle rock giant that typically stands 12 feet tall and weighs three tons, although some attain fifteen feet in height and four tons in weight. They are nocturnal, and transform during the day into a large boulder, or pile of rocks. At night the Hru’s earth–shaking stride has frightened many a traveller. They are fairly sociable creatures and may be found in colonies of up to forty. The strange rumbling songs they use to converse send shivers down the spines of most who hear them. Their voices are at the lowest pitch of human hearing which adds to the discomfort of human listeners."

        As mentioned above, the Hru is an interesting take on the classic fantasy giant. They are found in highland regions and are generally only antagonists to those who wish to disturb their habitat. To protect their territory, they are known to kill miners and foresters. Otherwise, they are mostly friendly and rather sociable. They might clash with the Garguns/Orcs of the area, however, as they live in foul caves and often raid and desolate local areas. Next up is the Gargu-Khanu.

    "The black or great orcs, at an average height of 4’2”, are the largest and most murderous of the Gargun. Their fur is black or dark brown. They justifiably regard themselves as the “warrior elite” of the Gargun. Strong for their size, the Khanu have little fear of humans; they are the most likely Gargun to mount raids on human settlements. Fortunately for the rest of the world, the Khanu breed far more slowly, and kill each other far more readily, than any other sub-species. With these checks on their population, Khanu are the least likely of all Gargun to swarm. The Khanu prefer to fight with maces or handaxes. When faced with death, these willful fighters are more likely to become berserk than flee."

        Reading the above, I get many evil inspirations for villainous plots in my world. Something not mentioned above is that they keep other Garguns as slaves, primarily the Brown orcs and Small orcs, which are smaller subraces of orcs. They also tend to raid and pillage the homes of these "lesser" orc subraces, taking over as colony leaders. Garguns tend to take over abandoned mines, caverns, or desolate dwarven fortresses (which have most likely already been assaulted by Garguns).    

        These orcs might not pose a threat, but when you have ranking orders with parties starting at eight to ten orcs (only two or three of which being Khanuns), it becomes extremely dangerous for party members to be traveling through the orcish territory, especially at night. A plot point that could be interesting to the players is a territorial war between dwarven miners, Gargu-Khanun, and Hru, all fighting for a viable cavern rich with resources. Finally, is the Ivashu, the grouping that the Hru belong to.

    "Ivashu are Ilvir’s creatures, known as the Fatherless Multitude by the faithful, or the Accursed Beasts of the Barren Circle by non-believers. Ilvir creates the Ivashu at Araka-Kalai, making use of a limited number of souls over and over again. Some Ivashu are fairly common, because they have proved most adaptable to survival, or because they are the easiest to create. However, Ilvir also enjoys experimental lifeforms and can produce any conceivable beast in some quantity. Many varieties are unique, created to perform a specific task, or just to amuse the deity"

     Ivashu is an interesting concept for any world. They originate at Araka-Kalai, returning there after death to be reborn once again as another Ivashu. Having an entire unending group of people, literally created just because a god wants mischief in the world is absolutely amazing, and is a concept I have been tossing around, especially once you get into creatures like generic evil, necromancers, zombies, etc. I hope that this article helps you expand the roster of evil monsters in your world! I cannot thank you enough for reading this; it means the world to me.