Ashes: Redux

 Well, I finally got the chance to run that Ashes Without Number adventure I had written.

Someone on my local gaming Meetup group's Discord mentioned that they were interested in trying out Ashes Without Number and I remembered that I had an adventure already written. I offered to run if there were enough interested people, which there turned out to be.

The slamon run was an environmental hazardh rather than an encounter, so I worked up an abstraction of the bridge crossing to work as a minigame. To simplify the scene, I broke down the bridge into only what was relevant. Based on the length of the bridge (this is a real bridge, so I have that information), I divided it into squares equal to the distance a character can move as a Move action. So a character taking a double Move would move 2 squares. Moving only 1 square meant that the character could take another action, such as Defend, offering a defensive bonus against slamon attacks. The slamon themselves would be taking slam attacks, potentially pushing characters off the side of the bridge. Based on AWN's shoving rules, Fernbridge is about 3 shoves wide. 

The players had a good amount of fun with this minigame, though they did also take the effort to secure a slamon for themselves.

When it came time to rescue the doctor, they decided to pursue a negotiated solution instead of the tactical scenario that I had planned for. While my intention had been to curtail that option, I hadn't built it up as effectively as I should have. When they approached the Town Watch guarding the Death House, the guard responded "I'm not the person to talk to" which led them to try to track down the person who they should be talking to and then talking them into releasing the prisoner.

As always happens, if the players go someplace that I don't plan for, they unlock my "easy mode." It took some rolls, but they made all of them and were able to talk the mayor into letting the doctor go.

There was a time after that where I considered adjusting the adventure  (As a one shot, there's no need to assume that I can't run it again, or that this outcome is canon to any eventual campaign) so that the "talking solution" was more viable. But I got some feedback from the player who requested the session that they were disappointed that they didn't get to test out the combat system.

So I'll be coming up with a few lines for the guards to more effectively block the Interaction approach and push it into Combat/Exploration as intended.

Another very important lesson: Get feedback from your players!