Mythras Solo Play Report (St. Millê): Session 0

This is a hasty one-shot test of the Mythras game (which contains the DNA of the RuneQuest and Basic Roleplaying (BRP) rules). I’ve created a character, Rayburn St. Millê, and have imagined a rather barebones setting in a mythic Britannic kingdom that has echoes of medieval Earth.

Tools & Rules

• Mythras Rules
• Recluse v1 Oracle

There’s a lot that I don’t know yet about the Mythras system – this is my very first time trying the rules – but these are where I landed on Ray’s Passions. I’m hoping that I can leverage these at some point, although I’m not sure how yet.

Passion			%
Hate (Local Lord)			51%
Loyalty (Blacksmith/Adopted Father)			75%
Desire (Elaine)			75%

 

Lord Gillesby is widely known as a cruel and unforgiving man, and most of the residents of the vales in the shadow of his keep try to avoid his notice. One day, a dour man wearing a woolen cloak and mail shirt beneath shows up at the smithy. Rayburn’s adopted father, Arnulf, is considered the best smith in the surrounding area – better than those in the Lord’s employ.

Gillesby commissions a sword from Arnulf, and Rayburn has a sinking feeling about it, although the price offered is good. Arnulf works for six months on this sword, and it’s the finest he’s ever made. It catches the sun like fire on the blade, and its balance is perfect.

When Lord Gillesby’s man returns to collect the sword, the payment he offers is half of what was agreed, but the soldier threatens to return with more men-at-arms and burn down the smithy. Arnulf capitulates and sells the sword for half of its value, and Rayburn is horrified – reinforcing his hatred of the Lord.

That night, Rayburn visits the local tavern in the village to drown his fury with strong ale and mead. He is already several wooden cups in and locked in an arm-wrestling contest with Finn, a stout farmer. A group of patrons surround them, cheering them on…

Let’s figure out how to resolve an arm-wrestling match. First, how much has Ray wagered on this match? Dice says 6 sp.

Reviewing the “How Skills Work” section of the rules, it looks like we need to roll equal to or less than the skill to succeed. Modifiers for difficulty are applied to the target and not the roll. 01-05 are always a success. 96-00 are always a failure.

Critical success is equal to 1/10th of the skills’ value, including the modifier. Round fractions up.

Fumble is a roll of 99 or 00, unless the skill is greater than 100, in which case the fumble is only on a roll of 00.

Okay, seems simple enough, but I think I’m looking for an opposed roll, akin to combat or grappling perhaps. Ooh, I found what I’m looking for under Brawn: Contests of Strength. “Brawn rolls can also be used in opposed tests for breaking free from the grip of others, arm wrestling, and tugs of war.” Perfect.

I’m supposed to use an Opposed Roll for this. Also, there’s a penalty for a big difference in the Damage Modifier between contestants. I forgot that while Ray is big, he’s not actually very strong. This should be interesting… Opposed Rolls: both participants roll their skills, and the winner is the one that gets the best level of success, meaning Critical Success or Standard Success. If both get the same level, then the higher roll succeeds – if the roll is equal to or less than the skill.

So, to make this contest work, I’ve got to roll up some stats for Finn. I’ll roll STR+SIZ, since that will give me both the Damage Modifier and the Brawn skill. To calculate any skill points allotted to Brawn, I’ll do 2d5 + 5 (thanks to DCC for the wacky dice), which gives a +11 to Finn’s Brawn.

Finn Feltsburg
STR 15; SIZ 15; Damage Modifier +1D2; Brawn 41

Their Brawn skills are close, Ray has a 40% and Finn has a 41%, but because Finn’s Damage Mod is one tier higher than Ray’s, it’s a Hard Difficulty Grade: reduce the skill value by 1/3. So that gives Rayburn a 27% chance, versus Finn’s 41%. Tough odds.

Finn: 09, success.

Rayburn: 03, critical success!!! Holy %$&#, that’s amazing.

I’ll say that Ray also gets 3d6 * 6 sp from his own 6 sp bet. That’s 13 * 6 = 78 sp, a lot for a guy who grew up as a beggar.

Is Finn mad about losing? No, and he’s good friends with Ray.

Finn’s bicep bulges as he arm-wrestles with Ray. Both men’s faces are red and straining, and their arms quiver. All those long days at the plow have made Finn’s arms strong, but Ray has his formidable size and the years in the smithy. The crowd shouts and cackles at the men battle, until suddenly Finn gives up with a sigh. His wrist slams into the wooden table and knocks over a cup of mead. The crowd yells and shouts, coin changes hands, and the onlookers begin to disperse to their tables.

Ray collects his winnings with satisfaction, and clasps hands with his friend Finn.

“Well fought,” he says jovially. “You’re stronger than you look.”

“You look stronger than you are,” Finn retorts, but he’s grinning good-naturedly. He claps Ray on the back. “Lemme buy you another drink…”

I decide to try to link this scene to the first scene and introduce the soldier who collected the sword, Gillesby’s man. Let’s ask the oracle a few questions:

- Is the man still armed and armored like before? No, he’s in regular clothes.

- Is he aggressive toward Rayburn? (N6, Y1) No, he doesn’t care.

Okay, I think this is a great moment to role on Ray’s Passion: Hate (Lord Gillesby) 51%. I’m also going to rule that the event with the sword has deepened his hatred: 1d10 + 10 = +14%. He’s now at 65% in his hatred. I roll a 97 on this passion, so his hatred won’t force him to confront the man.

What about his loyalty to Arnulf, which is at a 75%? That’s a 31, so it prompts him to act. He’s going to try to Influence the man. Influence is 33%, and I think this is a Hard difficulty grade, so 22%. Rolls is a 20, success!

Before he can follow through on the offer, the wooden door to the tavern bangs open and in strides Gillesby’s man, the one who took the sword. His boots clomp on the floorboards and Rayburn grits his teeth as his chair scrapes on the floor.

The journeyman armorer pushes back his own chair with a grim look in his eyes. Finn lays a cautioning hand on his friend’s arm and shakes his head, but Rayburn pulls his arm away. He stalks over to the bar and orders a pitcher of ale, which Mildred quickly delivers.

“Don’t get yourself kilt,” she says solemnly.

“Nobody’s going to die tonight,” he says.

He pulls back a chair opposite Gillesby’s man and sits, setting the pitcher of ale rather aggressively on the table. The man’s eyes narrow slightly as Ray invites himself to the table.

Bookkeeping: 2 sp for the ale. Mildred is the barkeep’s daughter, and about Ray’s age or a little younger.

Decided to make a reaction roll for the man’s initial reaction. There are several ways that come to mind: use an old-school D&D 2d6 reaction roll, use the Oracle, or try a mechanic from Mythras. Since I’m trying to learn Mythras, I decide that’s the way to go, and since I already made an Influence roll, I’m going to use it here.

“I don’t want company,” the man says in a gravelly voice.

“Look, I just want to talk,” Ray says, extending his hand. “I’m Rayburn.”

The man cautiously offers his hand in return, still suspicious of a sucker punch.

“Griel,” he says. “You’re the smith’s son.”

Rayburn pours some ale. “Apprentice,” he says. “Well, journeyman.”

“And let me guess, you want to talk about the sword’s price,” Griel says bitterly.

“You know you paid half what was agreed, and even that was half its worth,” Ray replies, trying to restrain his anger.

“What I know is that I have a job to do by Lord Gillesby, and so that’s what I done,” Griel says, sounding resigned, banging his cup down on the table so that ale sloshes out. Ray refills it, struggling to keep his hand from shaking.

Ray is going to use his Commerce (Armor) skill (73%) to try to add some specifics to his argument. I think this will be a combination of Influence and Commerce in that case. Reviewing the rules, the bartering subsystem seems like it could work, but Rayburn has no leverage in this situation. He’s just trying to get some traction with his arguments to get Griel to even listen to him. There’s also a Social Conflict subsystem that seems like it could work, but I’d really like to have Ray’s Commerce/Craft skills apply with his Influence roll. Checking the index, I find the Augmenting Skills section, which is exactly what I want – once again, this Mythras system comes through!

Augmenting works like this: an augmenting skill increase the primary skill by twice its Critical range (20% of the skill). The actual critical range doesn’t change when augmenting, though. So, Ray’s Commerce (Armor) is 73%, which gives him a +14%, bringing his Influence up to 47%, with a crit range at 4%. That’s neat.

Roll: 12, success! Missed the critical range but succeeded on the Influence attempt. Griel can’t change anything, but he becomes more understanding.

Rayburn explains in detail all the work that went into crafting the sword, the hours, and hours of sweat and sparks and sore arms. The man-at-arms listens, eyes in his ale, but clearly gradually coming around as his visage softens. Finally, he leans in close and speaks in a low voice.

“Listen, I understand that it’s not right. You think I don’t know it? But what do you want me to do? If I cross Gillesby, I’ll pay for it with my flesh. I’ve got a family, too, ya know.”

Also speaking conspiratorially, Ray replies: “I understand your hands are tied with this, but there must be something you can do to make this right? Or at least less wrong?”

Griel glances around to make sure nobody’s listening to their conversation. “Here’s the thing: I can’t give you more coin for the sword, but I know where there’s more coin to be had. Only I can’t get it by myself, and I can’t trust anyone at the keep. You help me get the loot and I’ll give you a third of it.”

“I don’t care about loot,” Ray says, but then reconsiders. The idea that Lord Gillesby should get away with this swindle eats at him, but if he could at least make up the coin that was lost…

He eyes the soldier cautiously. Griel’s a scruffy, middle-aged man with grey in his beard. A scar on his cheek tells a silent tale of past battles.

Rayburn will make a Perception skill check to try to get a read on Griel’s true intentions. Perception 36%; roll = 73. He has no idea how sincere Griel is being.

Now a Loyalty(Arnulf): 75%; roll = 83. Rayburn has misgivings about this mission.

Finally, let’s do a Hate (Lord Gillesby): 65%; roll = 84. He stays calm.

“I don’t see why I should be helping you,” he says to Griel. “You’re the man who stole from my master, after all.”

“Stole?” Griel says, bristling. “It’s called doing my duty to my lord,” the soldier says.

“Well, if I took a man’s goods and left him half of what I owe him, then I’d have the towne watch beating on my door, wouldn’t I?” Ray says.

“Fine,” Griel says, slamming his leather gloved fist onto the table and sloshing the ale. He pushes back from the table and rises. “You can go to hell for all I care…”

Does Rayburn confront him (likely)? (6y, 6y, 5n) Yes, and he throws the first punch.

Griel isn’t in his mail, and he’s left his sword at home, but both men have daggers at their belts. I’d love this to be a good old-fashioned bar brawl, at least to start. Now it’s time to look up how Mythras handles unarmed combat.

An unarmed Human has a size of Small, reach of Touch, and 1d3 damage. Grappling is also an option. It uses the Unarmed skill (makes sense). Except… It looks like RQ and Mythras have some shortcomings when it comes to a barroom brawl (see Rules for bar fight? - RuneQuest - BRP Central - The Chaosium forums (basicroleplaying.org) for more details on that). I might need to house rule this for now.

Damage is “temporary”, in that it can be recovered more quickly (and wounds are less serious). We’ll follow the same general rules for “wounds”, except the damage will be non-lethal. If a location is rendered useless (failed Endurance roll) then a successful Willpower roll is needed to continue. If the Head, Chest, or Abdomen are reduced to 0, then the fight is over.

I also need to figure out the basics of the Mythras combat system. First, initiative: 1d10 + Initiative bonus. Next, resolve attack and parries with Action points. Determine special effects for the Differential Roll, if any. Determine damage, if any. Keep track of fatigue. 

 Griel (Man-at-Arms)

STR: 11

CON: 13

SIZ: 14

DEX: 9

INT: 11

POW: 11

CHA: 11

1D20	Location	AP/HP
01-03	Right leg	0/6
04-06	Left leg	0/6
07-09	Abdomen	0/7
10-12	Chest	0/8
13-15	Right arm	0/5
16-18	Left arm	0/5
19-20	Head	0/6

Action Points: 2, Damage Modifier: +0, Initiative: 10
Skills: Athletics 59%, Brawn 64%, Commerce 31%, Conceal 64%, Courtesy 42%, Deceit 61%, Endurance 70%, Evade 56%, Folk Magic 46%, Gambling 30%, Influence 61%, Insight 65%, Locale 61%, Passion: Protect(Wife) 59%, Passion: Distrust(Lord Gillesby) 57%, Perception 42%, Stealth 40%, Streetwise 31%, Unarmed 60%, Willpower 50%

Combat Styles: Man-at-Arms 62%

Note: after watching some Mythras actual play, I realized that I hadn’t read the rules for combat very carefully and missed the subtlety of action points, rounds, turns and cycles. I’m not sure it would’ve made a difference in the outcome, but it answers one of the questions that I had about how this should work.

Turn 1

Initiative: Ray = 9 + 15 = 24; Griel = 1 + 10 = 11. Rayburn wins initiative.

Ray: Punches at Griel. Unarmed 38%; roll = 38. Good lord, so much luck. Griel will attempt to parry. Unarmed 60%; roll = 70, failed. Rayburn lands the punch to the right arm for 1 damage (RA 4/5).

Griel (1 action point): Punches at Ray. Roll = 52 vs. 60%, hit! Ray’s parry = 56 vs. 38%, fail. This grants Griel one special. He’s spent his points already, so flurry won’t work, but I’d say Choose Location will fit the bill – of course, he punches Ray in the face. 2 damage.

Turn 2

Ray: 69 (nice) vs. 38%, miss. Griel won’t attempt a parry for the special effects.

Griel: 37 vs. 60%, hit. Ray, parry = 04 vs. 38%, success & crit! Let’s use overextend opponent, and he throws Griel off guard. Griel can’t attack next turn.

Turn 3

Ray: 28 vs. 38%, hit! Griel parry = 55 vs. 60%, success. Griel’s result is greater, so the parry succeeds.

Griel: Wards his head with his left hand for passive blocking.

Turn 4

Ray: 12 vs. 38%, hit. Griel parry = 26 vs 60%, blocked.

Griel: 00 vs. 60%, fumble! Ray: 02 vs 38%, crit! Ray wins 3 levels of success!!!

Ray will use Trip Opponent: 69 (nice) vs. Brawn 40%, fail. Blind Opponent (throws ale): Griel’s Evade = 10 vs. 56%, Ray’s 02 parry was a critical, so wins. Griel has ale in his eyes and suffers Blindness modifier for 2 rounds (1/10th of his Unarmed is 6%), yikes! Finally, Accidental Injury: Griel pulls his left arm for 1 damage. (RA 4/5, LA 4/5).

Turn 5

Griel is blinded by ale (1/2).

Ray: 22 vs. 38%, hit. Griel parry = 72 vs. 6%, fail. Ray gets a special, so he’ll use Choose Location and hit Griel in the face for 1 damage. (RA 4/5, LA 4/5, H 5/6).

Griel: flails. 23 vs. 6%, fail. Ray parries = 82 vs. 38%, fail.

Turn 6

Griel is blinded by ale (2/2).

Ray: 41 vs. 38%, miss. Griel flails to parry, 76 vs. 6%, fail.

Griel: 24 vs. 6%, miss. Ray: 38 vs. 38%, success! Ray gets a special, since he succeeded with one level of success, and he’ll pick Prepare Counter vs. Choose Location.

Turn 7

Griel is no longer blinded (uh-oh), but he is furious!

Ray: Fatigue check, Endurance, 32 vs. 29%. Ray is fatigued (winded – 1/3).

Ray: 42 vs. F(25)%, miss. Going to spend a Luck point and swap the roll to 24 vs. F(25)%, hit! Griel: 05 vs. 60%, crit! He gets a special: Trip Opponent, Brawn = 53 vs. 64% opposed 24. Ray is now prone.

Griel: Punches = 24 vs. 60%, hit! Ray: 52 vs. F(25)%, parry failed. He blocks the punch with his right arm but takes 3 damage. His right arm is hurt.

Turn 8

Ray is prone and fatigued (winded – 1/3). Griel rolls for fatigue: 63 vs. 70%, none.

Ray: Regain footing. Must win an opposed test of Brawn or Athletics before standing. Ray: Brawn 29 vs. F(26)%. Griel: Brawn 14 vs. 64%. Ray fails to get up.

Griel: Punches, 27 vs. 60%, hit. Ray: 63 vs. Prone(19)%, fail. Ray fails to block and Griel gets a special, Choose Location: head, but Ray has prepared to counter that move. Ray substitutes Arise, which succeeds automatically. He’s now back on his feet, but panting, sweating, and wavering.

Turn 9

Ray is fatigued (winded – 1/3), staggered, but standing.

Ray: Punches 59 vs. Fatigued(25)%, fail. Griel: Parries. 31 vs. 60%, success. Special: Overextend opponent. Ray skips his attack the next turn.

Griel: Punches 06 vs. 60%, critical! Ray: 92, failure. Griel gets two specials: Choose Location, Maximize Damage. Griel punches Rayburn forcefully in the face for 3 damage, taking him down. Ray is out for the count.

Reading the fatigue rules more carefully, it says that a person will need to start rolling for fatigue after CON in seconds rounded up to the nearest turn (pg 80). Since Ray has a CON of 7, that should’ve been Turn 5.

Ray stands and block’s the man-at-arms’ path.

“We’re not finished here,” he says.

“Oh, we’re finished,” Griel says, putting his hand on Ray’s shoulder to push the tall man to the side. Ray’s fist flies but Griel is ready and takes the punch on the arm instead of the chin, and almost immediately his fist slams into Rayburn’s face. The soldier growls and presses the attack.

The fight draws the other tavern patrons to their feet, shouting and picking favorites.

“God damn you, man,” Griel snarls, blocking Ray’s next wild punch and stepping in to smash the younger man in the face. Rayburn is ready, and leans away from the punch, forcing the soldier to overextend – a good move. Griel’s balance is off, but he manages to shield himself from Ray’s fists.

It seems like Ray is getting the best of the older warrior now: he steps in, forcing Griel’s fists to the outside, and the man wrenches his arm. Ray slams his shoulder into the man, driving him back a few steps and trying to trip him, but Griel’s sure footing keeps him upright. Ray sweeps the half-finished pitcher of ale from the table and splashes it in the man’s face, blinding him.

Some of the onlookers laugh, and others hiss at the dirty tactic, but Ray doesn’t care. Ray towers over the spluttering soldier and lands a solid blow on Griel’s nose, eliciting a groan of pain from the blinded soldier. Ale is dripping from his graying hair and he’s trying to blink the ale out of his eyes. His nose is bleeding onto his tunic as he stumbles at Ray.

Ray is getting winded and sweat is pouring from his brow. Griel wipes the ale from his eyes and his fury is written all over his face. He lunges at Ray, tripping the younger man and dropping him to the ground. Ray manages to lift his right arm to ward off the next punch, but his arm is bruised.

Ray tries to get up, but Griel winds up for a punch to the head, leaning over the younger man. Ray’s ready, and blocks the punch, grabbing hold of the soldier’s garb and pulling himself back to his feet.

The fight has turned. Griel has the clear upper hand now. Ray is sweating, panting, and staggered, while the soldier still seems to have plenty of steam. Rayburn steps forward and levels a fierce right hook at the soldier, who evades it with ease and force Ray to stumble forward – directly into a solid punch from Griel’s fist. Ray goes down like a sack of potatoes.

Mildred brings over a cold wet rag and wipes Ray’s forehead as Griel accepts some congratulations and pats on the shoulder for a good fight. Some also grumble a bit, and coin changes hands. There were those who would’ve loved to see one of Gillesby’s men get a drubbing, even if that man was a local.

Ray stirs after a few minutes and opens his eyes blearily. Griel stoops over him and grabs the front of his tunic.

“You listen here,” the soldier says. “Never cross me again or I’ll make sure you regret it.”

With that, he stalks out of the tavern.

“You’re a fool,” Mildred says, helping Ray get into a chair.

I’m going to call the scene here, and the next scene will happen a week after this one.

Healing: since this is non-lethal combat, I’m going to say that Ray is recovered in 2 days (his healing rate is 2), although he still has bruises on his face, a cut lip, and bruises on his right arm. Basically, he looks like he got into a bar fight.

I want to exercise the Experience rules in Mythras as well, so even though this was a brief session, it seems like the sort of thing that might result in some life lessons. Since Ray has an Exp Modifier, I’ll say he gets 2 Experience Rolls.

He didn’t fumble during the session, so there’s no automatic increase for that.

I’ll say he can roll Influence and Unarmed. Influence: 48 + INT 14 = 62 vs. 33%. He gains +5%. Unarmed: 32 + 14 = 46 vs. 38%, also +5%. (Good rolls of +1d4+1 !) His Influence skill is now 38% and his Unarmed is now 43%.

Comments

Mythras is a fun system. There’s a lot of fiddly details – which is exactly what I was looking for – but I think would totally struggle to run this at the table without more practice. I really enjoy the skill system, and I felt like (despite the lack of unarmed combat rules) the bar fight and arm-wrestling matches were fun! I was unsure of how I would use the Passions when I started, but they ended up being a big part of this session. Also, this really didn’t turn out at all how I had in my head. I never imagined that Rayburn would try to influence Griel, nor that they would get in a bar fight, but it all flowed naturally from the game mechanics. I barely referred to the oracle at all.

In short: it was a great session!