From: bz556@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joshua E. Randall)
Subject: Lucky Players (Well...)
Reply-To: bz556@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Joshua E. Randall)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 92 01:10:35 GMT


This was your typical two-man game.  My friend was the DM, and I was the
player, controlling two characters:  a Halfling Fighter/Thief and a Gnomish
Illusionish/Thief.  I (we) was (were) exploring an Orc lair [funny how
those tend to pop up frequently in my games].

Anway, after sneaking up on the first few guards and dispatching them
(you'd be amazed how effective a simultaneous double backstab is), my
characters ran into trouble.  Just inside the cave mouth was a side
passage.  Using Hear Noise, both characters detected voices talking in
Orcish (which both understood, conviently).  There seemed to be quite a
few, so the characters decided to try and Hide in Shadows/Move Silently
past the area.

Here's where the luck comes in.  Under 1st Ed. rules, a first level thief
has a woefully small chance of success in either HiS or MS--about 30%
maximum (that's including Dexterity and racial bonuses).  But amazingly, my
Halfling made both rolls and my Gnome made his HiS roll (I'm not a
statistician, but I know enough about probabilities to realized that the
chances of this happening were somewhere on the order of 8%).

Here's where the luck runs out.  My Gnome failed to Move Silently.  The
Orcs heard him, looked up, and saw him in the light of their lanterns (the
DM ruled that although he had succeeded in Hiding in Shadows, now that the
Orcs were actively looking for him, they saw him).  There were six Orcs,
four of whom threw spears at my poor Gnome.  *They* got lucky and skewered
him badly--I think 3 spears hit him.  Anway, the Gnome was reduced to
negative hit points (technically dead, but the DM said that if the Halfling
could stop the bleeding before the Gnome reached -10 HP, he'd live).

Here's where my luck came back.  My Halfling, fighting with two weapons
(Short Sword and Dagger) charged at the Orcs and killed one on his charge. 
The four spear throwers didn't have any other weapons ready, so they
couldn't fight back (thank goodness they didn't have more spears to set to
recieve his charge!).  The other two tried to move forward while the
remaining three tried to fall back.  In the confusion, my Halfling killed
two more IN ONE ROUND, each dying on the point of one of his weapons (I
really rolled this stuff, I swear it!).

Next, the Orcs failed a morale check.  The DM ruled that since they
couldn't flee, they would retreat into their guard room and hope I didn't
follow.  I could have gone back to save the Gnome, but my Halfling was
pissed off, so I decided to press the attack.  Well, another Orc bit the
dust after being hit with both blades (haven't missed yet in this battle!).

Two were left.  One had some sort of hand-to-hand weapon, the other was one
of the original spear-throwers who now picked up a CROSSBOW!  Uh oh.  I
advanced and cut down the first, but the second fell back to load his
crossbow.  Next round I *barely* won initiative (trust me, all these rolls
really happened).  I asked the DM how long it would take the Orc to load
his crossbow.  He said "not very long", so I decided to forego a charge and
throw my Dagger at him.  From my left hand.  At medium range.

I hit him.

I rolled maximum damaged.

He only had four hit points.

Whew!  Anyway, after that I went back, picked up the Gnome, and left the
lair.  I didn't get much treasure, but my Halfling got experience for
killing six Orcs singlehandedly.

In case you're wondering, later I rolled up two more characters, a Dwarf
Fighter/Thief and a Dwarf Fighter, and went back and cleaned out the lair. 
Really.  And no one died.

<huge grin>

-- 
Joshua E. Randall
bz556@cleveland.freenet.edu
My motto:  "So little time, so little to do."  --Oscar Levant