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TOPIC: True Grind Post-Mortem (2013 GenCon)

True Grind Post-Mortem (2013 GenCon) 10 years 4 weeks ago #1

The pile of body parts from last year's Grind has been stinking up the place. So I might as well get around to feeding the bunny!

By rights, this probably should be posted in the 2013 subforum but I figure that is going to get locked any day now. Plus, the statistical data and survival rates might be helpful for players preparing for this year's Grind and for those who want to figure out the appropriate difficulty level for their party.


For last year's 2013 True Grind there were 23 scheduled events (7 each on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and 2 on Sunday). Note that one of the slots was chosen through the annual TD lottery (so the Event Catalog only showed 22 events not 23). Raven and I also ran a bonus run Thursday late night but it was poorly advertised and ran at only half capacity.

Looking at the officially scheduled events (excluding the bonus run) we had 216 players out of 230 slots, for 94% attendance. In terms of tickets (some players had extra tickets which they turned in) we actually had 221 tickets out of 230 possible, for a 96% ticket collection rate.

Of the 24 runs, 7 were Normal (29%), 15 were Hardcore (63%), and 2 were Nightmare (8%).

Of the 7 Normal runs, all 7 groups were victorious (100%) and all 56 players survived (100%), though there were 3 missing limbs.

Of the 15 Hardcore runs, 13 were victorious (87%) while 2 ran out of time (13%). There were 144 players on Hardcore, of which 89 survived (62%), 18 ran out of time (13%), and 37 died (26%). We collected 16 severed limbs from these players.

There were only 2 Nightmare runs and both (2) were victorious (100%) but just barely. Of the 20 Nightmare players, there were a mere 4 survivors (20%) with 16 casualties (80%). From these 20 players we managed to procure 13 limbs and 2 heads.


Looking at how often classes were chosen (220 players for 24 runs) we have:

Barbarian (24)
Cleric (21)
Fighter (21)
Paladin (21)
Bard (20)
Dwarf Fighter (20)
Ranger (20)
Druid (19)
Rogue (18)
Monk (14)
Wizard (12)
Elf Wizard (10)

The Barbarian was chosen for every single run. Monk and the two Wizards were unsurprisingly at the bottom.



Looking at survival rates we have:

Druid (79%)
Paladin (76%)
Dwarf Fighter (75%)
Ranger (75%)
Wizard (75%)
Cleric (67%)
Fighter (67%)
Bard (65%)
Barbarian (63%)
Monk (57%)
Rogue (56%)
Elf Wizard (50%)

Average survival rate was 68%. One interesting note is that the Human Wizard has a substantially higher survival rate than the Elf Wizard (75% vs 50%).

As for lost limbs, we have:

Paladin (6)
Ranger (5)
Barbarian (4)
Monk (4)
Fighter (3)
Bard (2)
Druid (2)
Dwarf Fighter (2)
Rogue (2)
Cleric (1)
Wizard (1)
Elf Wizard (0)

The Paladin's first place finish is unsurprising due to his Guard ability.

There was a very small sample size for decapitations, but the Druid and Dwarf Fighter win by a head (one apiece).

We also had one 5th level Monk who tumbled down the XP ladder when he was level drained back down to level 4.


Encounter List

[RAVEN]

Room #1: Stirges + Satyr
Room #2: Spider (Giant/Sword/Phase) + Harpy
Room #3: Shambling Mound + Dark Naga

[ERIC]

Room #1: Werewolf/Wolfwere/Greater Wolfwere + Wolf/Dire Wolf/Winter Wolf
Room #2: Evil Treant + Animated Tree
Room #3: Vampire/Vampyre Fighter + Wizard

[FINAL ROOM]

Vorpal Bunny + Black Unicorn + (in some circumstances) Crawling Arm




EASTER EGGS (from the bunny!)

- If you gave a Satyr Wine to the Satyr, he would peacefully leave to go and get drunk.

- The Satyr was immune to the Satyr's Pipes of Dancing, but a clever bard could use the Pipes to challenge the Satyr to a musical showdown! I don't believe anyone actually tried this though.

- On Normal difficulty level, the first monster in my room was indeed a WEREWOLF (Lycanthrope). But on Hardcore and Nightmare, it was actually a WOLFWERE instead. So if you got diseased at a higher difficulty level and was wondering why the Potion Luna's Grace wasn't working, that's why.

- On Normal difficulty level, the fighter and wizard in my third room were indeed VAMPIRES (Undead). But on Hardcore and Nightmare, they were actually VAMPYRES. That was why turning was ineffective against them (though they were vulnerable to criticals and did not possess standard undead immunities). Although several players noticed these different effects, I don't think anyone put all the pieces together to realize these were Vampyres with a "Y".

- The Black Unicorn emanated a protective aura (Magic Circle Against Good) that made it harder to hurt the Vorpal Bunny. You were supposed to kill the Unicorn first and then the Bunny.

- As expected, the Vorpal Bunny was highly susceptible to Sacred Hand Grenades. These did x10 damage (so 10, 20, 30, or 40 damage depending on the damage wheel) and bypassed his magic resistance. I only recall 1 or 2 groups actually using Sacred Hand Grenades though.



I know it's been some time since GenCon and some of you may have been attacked by memory moss or thought eaters. But please feel free to add any feedback, analysis, comments, or stories!

And in the future, definitely do NOT poke the bunny!!!

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Last edit: by Incognito.

Re: True Grind Post-Mortem (2013 GenCon) 10 years 4 weeks ago #2

Eric, outstanding break-down and summary!

I especially liked "There was a very small sample size for decapitations, but the Druid and Dwarf Fighter win by a head (one apiece)." :)

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Re: True Grind Post-Mortem (2013 GenCon) 10 years 4 weeks ago #3

  • Raven
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My favorite moment of True Grind was one party's encounter with the Shambling Mound & Dark Naga.

The Shambler had been having a hard time grappling any of the players due to their high AC's, so the Dark Naga cast "True Strike" on him, allowing a guaranteed hit for his next combat round.

The players groaned. (There may have been some muttered cursing, too.)

Shambler caused a lot of damage with his Constriction attack (x2, I think... HardCore mode) then let go.

Before the Dark Naga could use her True Strike spell again, one clever player cast "MUTE!" on her! She failed her saving throw, and was silenced.

And there was great rejoicing!!

For her turn, the Dark Naga cast "Vocalize" on herself (a spell with no vocal component) and regained use of her voice!

And there was a cry of shock and disbelief from the party, fading into strains of anguish and consternation.

With her second action, she cast True Strike on the Shambler again!

The party groaned again (with more recognizable curse words this time)... and for some reason, suddenly focussed all their efforts on taking down the Naga. :o

She did not live long after that, but I assure you she went to her grave treasuring those cries of anguish and disappointment. The tears of adventurers are sweet ]:)
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Re: True Grind Post-Mortem (2013 GenCon) 10 years 3 weeks ago #4

  • bpsymington
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I was on one of the victorious NM grinds, and I was proud that my wizard was one hit from surviving - the bunny killed me (but no lost limbs) before our final surviving party member killed it.

I can't believe we didn't think of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!
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Re: True Grind Post-Mortem (2013 GenCon) 10 years 3 weeks ago #5

bpsymington wrote: I was on one of the victorious NM grinds, and I was proud that my wizard was one hit from surviving - the bunny killed me (but no lost limbs) before our final surviving party member killed it.

I can't believe we didn't think of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!


*facepalm
As one on the half person run- this was one of the TD highlights for me in the 5 or so years I have been doing it. Thanks for this summary. Hopefully I'll get to do more this year.

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Re: True Grind Post-Mortem (2013 GenCon) 10 years 1 week ago #6

We had great fun on our Hardcore run. We only had one player at the end when the Bunny went down, the last two were me and the Pally. I felt pretty happy the Bard outlived 80% of the rest of the team with some fancy moves lol.

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