I'm always trying to save characters, but it's up to you. XD
Interestingly, if we had three more rooms, we would've already been at a guaranteed TPK.
[ +- ] Theoretical alternate dimension
Like for example, if right now in the game one ghost uses Revenge to force Joe to take damage and Leigh blocks hers, we go to:
Professor - 3/2, no block,
Leigh - 2/3, no block,
Ricky - 4/1, has block,
Joe - 3/0, dead.
Next room it's now three ghosts, so (assuming no tie) they attack everyone. If we optimise and have Ricky block, it still means that in the next room it will be 1/2/1 health - so guaranteed two deaths, no matter the redirects. Which is also a guaranteed death of the last member in room 7.
And if Joe doesn't die and instead redirects to Leigh, then it would go to 2/2/1+/1 health in room 5, which will avoid death only if none of the ghosts hit Joe again. In the most perfect case, it's at most two extra rooms before TPK (2/1/1/1 in room 6 to 1/1/1 in room 7 to TPK in room 8).
To add to the discussion about the number of rooms and game balance, I've been wondering if the dead PCs are actually supposed to be attacking as per rules. The part about them is somewhat ambiguous, and on first reading I thought it meant that the only thing they get is Revenge (as in blocking redirect). It seemed that it's way too easy to enter a death spiral after the number of ghosts becomes more than the number of living, especially if it's supposed to be more rooms.
In our case the balance is skewed because of Justin being dead from the first room, but after some theorizing I'm actually starting to lean into the multiple ghost rule, because otherwise it needs significantly more rooms to be challenging. (Although, perhaps more rooms is intended for more roleplay? How quick is this game supposed to be around a table?)
In either case, it feels like the GM has to math hard about Provoke goal in the first act if they want the game to be difficult. XD
Here are my numbers on this, if you're interested!
[ +- ] Theorizing - Multiple ghosts
Take our initial party of 2/3, 3/2, 2/3, 4/1, 3/2. Assume everyone always rolls average of 3, ignore ties.
Once ghost appears, with the average rolls 4/1 is going to be targeted until they die. However, since initial ghost can't block redirect, they will only kill 4/1 in room 5 from the end (block, redirect, redirect, redirect, dead).
In fact, whoever the ghost targets will die in minimum 5 rooms.
After 4/1 is dead, it's now two ghosts with 1 Revenge. If we rule that they got different targets, they both continuously attack 3/2 characters.
If 3/2s both act similar, it goes: block, redirect into 2/3 (they block), redirect into 2/3 (they get to 2/2), take damage, dead. So both 3/2 die in room 10.
Now there are four ghosts with 3 Revenge, and two players 2/2 with no block. No matter what, both die in next room, room 11.
So, 11 rooms on average will result in TPK, while 5 room is a minimum to have at least some challenge.
I assume something like 8 is about average challenge then (so 24 Provoke target with average rolls).
[ +- ] Theorizing - One ghost
As above, the first ghost needs at least 5 rooms to kill 4/1.
After that, it's targeting 3/2 again, and kills them in room 10 (block, redirect to 2/3, redirect to different 2/3, damage, dead). The situation becomes:
3/2 with block, 2/3 without block, 2/3 without block, ghost has 2 Revenge.
Next 3/2 goes down in room 14 (block, redirect to 2/3, Revenge damage, Revenge damage).
The only remaining players are 2/2 and 2/3 without blocks.
2/2 goes down in room 17 (redirect to 2/3, damage, damage).
Last player, now 2/2, goes down in room 19.
So the minimum of rooms is still 5, and the maximum is roughly 19, which puts average in 12 (36 Provoke goal).
(This all ignores a lot of factors like ties and ghosts getting lucky/unlucky with targets, of course.)
What I'm saying is that I want a second go with a Provoke target of about 30. XD
Last edited November 1, 2023 1:11 am
