Re: [HOE] A question about Servitors (possible light spoilers)

["Scott Pedersen" <spederse@hotmail.com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shawn Willett" <damarshal1@yahoo.com>
To: <hoe@gamerz.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 4:53 PM
Subject: [HOE] A question about Servitors (possible light spoilers)


> This should be a Marshal only topic so heres some spoiler space
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> 1) This has been a bone of contention in my other group, that servitors
don't know thier weakness. I've ALWAYS run them as if they knew the one
thing that would kill them and avoided it like the plague. That's why the
Lone Biker in my game always take a few minutes after the slaughter to burn
the bodies and the town and why Modeen has an escape route planned.  Do
servitors know their weaknesses?

My opinion is that they are aware of their weakness to some degree in a
"I'll know it when I see it" sort of way.  While some may know exactly what
their weakness is, even those that don't will avoid it.  Thus a posse needs
to be either exceedingly clever and trick the servitor or exceedingly strong
to force the issue.  It is not unreasonable for some servitors to know their
weakness, like the Lone Biker burning towns behind him, but not all
servitors are this smart.  Also, the fact that a servitor has a weakness
means the item to take advatage of the weakness exists.  So while the Lone
Biker burns towns behind him, there will be one he missed and your posse has
to find it.  Or somehting similiar.

> 2) Another point that caused much argument was whether or not servitors
knew they had gone to the Dark Side(tm) <G> In my game, they know that they
are evil, but in my buddy James' game we traveled with a whiny librarian NPC
that was a servitor of Death and was unconsciously raising dead people to
attack our group. I figure if they know thier weakness and they know they
are evil, they will be much smarter when it comes to those pesky heroes (and
their damn dog too) figuring out how to kill them.

They may know nothing about the horsemen, or the reckoning, or any of it.
They may be in denial about their deeds.  But on some level they know the
evil they do.  Becoming a servitor isn't an 'oops'.  Their cleverness when
it comes to killing the posse may vary from servitor to servitor.  The
S-Mart Overlord for example, isn't very subtle, while Stone is very smart.
However, servitors should always be clever when it comes to saving their own
skin.

> 3) Can a servitor be stunned? This happened when S-Swat (my first group)
ran into Modeen. The doomie in the group launched Mirv and racked up enough
damage to stun him. One low card for him later, and the group's Templar had
shish-kabobed him. I think it's much scarier if the party mows him down in a
hail of gunfire and then he pops up on the next card undamaged and laughing.
I've always taken immunity:all to mean (much like the scene from the
Preacher graphic novel) you could drop a 20-megaton nuke on his forehead, it
would detonate and when the smoke cleared, the big bad would spit and growl
"not enough gun".

As with all things, it depends on what serves your purposes when telling the
story.  In my game a servitor typically suffers the effects of normal damage
it just doesn't stick  This came in useful for my posse against Modeen.  To
defeat him they eventually had to blow his arm off.  It re-assembled
immediately, but it caused him to drop his axe.  Of course this was after a
couple hours real-time and a hundred combat rounds or so.  I figured they
needed a break.  (The Templar was the only one who had a chance at wielding
the sword, but between Modeen's disease power and the templar's wounds he
was at -8 or so to all his actions and was rolling against TNs of 13).
Similarly, I would usually let enough normal damage stun a servitor, but
only for one action.  However, if letting your villain be stunned means your
climactic combat ends in one round, he doesn't get stunned.  Remember, the
rules are only rules for the posse, for the marshal, they are more
guidelines than anything else.

> "All I want for Christmas is a monster that'll survive longer than 3
rounds!!!"

Remember that in cases like Modeen, the sword that will destroy him is not
instantly lethal.  You still have to kill him in fair combat.  The only
thing special about  the sword is the damage it does sticks.  My posse,
because they are too clever for their own good, tricked Modeen and rammed
the sword into his guts on the first round.  However, between their low
damage roll and my chips he survived.  So save those chips.

I have found it is extremely difficult to get a good villain that lasts more
than three rounds yet doesn't wipe out the party.  This is because the posse
usually knows when they are up against the big baddie and they pull out all
the stops.  So, here are a few bits of advice that I've found useful.

One, minions.  The fight with the villain can be short if the fight leading
up to the villain is epic.  Also, don't let them fight the baddie fresh.  If
they have to fight their way through hell to get to your villain then
they'll be low on strain, bullets, and wounds for the big fight.  Fights
last a lot longer when your doomsayer is out of nukes.  Also, fighting
minions give the posse more opportunities to draw the black joker giving you
more chips.  Furthermore, it gives you more opportunities to wound the posse
and use up their chips.

Two, don't be nice.  I've always been tempted to take it easy on the posse
because I'm worried I'll kill them all.  Don't do it.  Posses are tough,
smart, and they outnumber you.

Three, cheat.  The posse doesn't know the stats or abilities of the villain
so you can fudge a bit to make the combat more interesting.  Just make sure
you never tell them you cheated.

Four, don't end the adventure when they baddie dies.  My posse was in a real
tough spot in the Boise Horror adventure since they needed all the power
they had to defeat the Horror, but they also needed enough power left over
to make the trip back up to the surface through the morlocks.  So while they
wanted to go all out they had to hold back a little which made the combat
more interesting and longer lasting.

Of course, you could always just go with a really big size and lots of armor
too.

-Scott Pedersen