Leptis Magna Season 1, Episode 9 (Finale)

Following on from the last episode, we carry onto the next round. My posts are in blue, Marks are in green, and any post-editing commentary are in red. The gladiator rules used are Munera Sine Missione - note that this version may have differences to the current version. Each round will be posted as a weekly episode.

Unexpected answer….. Mago draws his gladius and leaps forward in a great rage at Noctua. Having the advantage of surprise, Mago felled Noctua in a single blow. The other 2 guards were stunned but starting to react. Mago turned to the first one and quickly despatched him. The second guard came up, and parried Mago’s first strike with his shield. The guard, now with his gladius drawn parried a second blow from Mago. He then counter struck and killed the unarmoured Mago. Such was the end of a promising career. In a way, Mago found peace away from the crazy world he was born into. At the scene of the crime, it was discovered that Mago carried the branding of Macer. The Magistrate was to later arrest Macer for ordering an assassination of Noctua, and it is unknown whether Macer was able to scheme his way out of that one. 

NOTES

I wasn’t intending for there to be death during the “in between” events, as I thought the most dangerous option out of each 3 was obvious – but from a character role playing point of view, it was the correct answer (in my defence I didn’t know they were brothers!).

I gave the situation the following odds of success, which involved three successive d6 rolls. 1st roll: Kill Noctua on roll of 5 or less. 2nd roll: Kill first guard on roll of 3 or less. 3rd roll: Kill second guard on roll of 2 or less. The chances of success drops at each successive roll as the opponents recover from the surprise. For each failure, a reroll is allowed, but 1 is added (cumulative). A very difficult one. The first roll was 2, Noctua was killed straight away. The next roll was 1, killing the first guard. All of a sudden Mago was looking like surviving here. Third roll was 5, so the last guard was able to recover from the surprise. There was still a chance to win, but I had to roll a 1 (needed 2 or less with +1 on the dice). I rolled another 5, so it was over. Close at the end.

Anyway, it was a good run by Mago, and the story evolved quite a bit – Macer is ruined for a second time (no doubt he originally left Capua the first time under similar circumstances).

I think the mechanism worked very well, the main learning point for me as the Active player is not to get too much into the background context and leave that to the GamesMaster.

No happy endings for anyone: Mago and Kemsa dead, Macer ruined (probably), Noctua dead. Just like real life. I wonder what happened to Samasu?

The second campaign we ran was Antioch, which will be posted up next. Leptis Magna (Season 2) was revisited again after Antioch.