[WW] Golem & Dogs of War **spoiler**

["Cpt. Canuck" <canuck@superaje.com>]

Well...  In one day I ran Golem, then Dogs of War with the same
characters.  We hade 2 scouts, 1 medic/grunt, 1 french resistance
fighter, and a medic, all third level.  

GOLEM
We had quite a bit of action besides what was in the adventure before
they got to the town.  They did search the Rabbi's room, but had no
interest in anything else besides the library/HQ.  Dodging a few
patrols, they made it to the library.  The scout and grunt/medic went
down the street and onto rooves in sniper positions.  The medic and
other scout went up to the front of the library and tried to roll
grenades under the truck out front... missing terribly.  Then they ran,
as the French Resistance fighter snuck into the HQ alone.  He ended up
stuck, and in hiding.  The snipers finally shot the trucks gas tank, and
created a ton of rukus (another patrol was heading towards them from the
opposite side of the library).  The Resistance man, took out a number of
German's grabbed the Rabbi, and in the excitment ignored any signs the
fext wasn't simply a fellow good guy.  

They all got back to the safehouse, and just as the chick (Passione)
goes white upon seeing the fext, the resistance fighter had his heads in
his hands repeating "oh no, oh no" and knew right away what he'd done. 
They fired, and then tried some melee with him, but he brushed them off
(after a scary point when the scout almost retrieved the book from his
hand) and was pummelled by the golem.  With the golem I simply took away
his immunity to their guns, and the damage reduction.  His high AC was
just the perfect toughness for the crew.  A scout retrieved the book,
and a number of papers, before the fext grabbed one sheet and fled (he'd
been thrown into a porch which collapsed).  The Golem took one scout to
0 hp.  Nearly took out two buildings (two of the characters were on the
roof (yeah same ones as before) and almost went down with the building. 
They finally destroyed it, and with only two days to heal, they were
sent for Dogs of War (none were at full hps).

The most amazing thing was the single character who broke into the HQ,
reaked havoc, and got out, mostly on his own (a little assistance with
outside distractions).  It was incredbily lucky.  I figured him for dead
as soon as he decided to go in.  The group took absolutely no time to
work together at all, and just did their own things.  Nothing was
planned, and while it was a hard fought battle, the did it without any
fatalities.  I honestly thought they were all dead, but they ate up the
German's easily.  It was quite incredible in my eyes since they did it
without any serious firepower, or Grunts. 

DOGS OF WAR

The funny thing here is that they had more trouble with the Wolves than
the main encounter.  Another character went down to 0 hps.  

They took out the sentry (tried to do it quietly with a knife and
failed).  Were terrified with the blood dripping (still really in shock
from the fext... I never heard the end of him).  A long battle took care
of the wolves, but truly crippled the party.  Into the main encounter,
half flanked the clearing, and one set up as a sniper near the path. 
Two well placed grenades knocked all the soldiers to one hp or dead
(depending on save), and nigh killed the Kludes.  After disposing of
them (one Klude put up at least a small fight), they entered melee with
the Blood Mage (I tried everything I could to get him out of there and
to fight back) grappling him down, pinning, and capturing him.  They did
actually kill one of the pilots when a grenade went slightly astray. 
When the vampire started thrashing, they all failed their fear checks,
all but one ended up fleeing.  He eventually staked the creature (that
was  a mess, as it really should have risen to fight.... my fault). 
They took too long and not everyone had the information about the
stakes.  

After all was finished the super resitance fighter, fought off the scout
and medic/grunt and staked the blood mage.  

The real problems here was the very quick and successful grappling of
the Blood Mage.  The Resistance fighter even had him in a head lock, and
was rubbing the cross the girl had given him in his face.  He really was
no match for the party, and barely a match for one of the scouts.  The
secondary problem was the long amount of time before staking the
vampire, and that they ALL failed their checks.  All in all, I had the
fear knocked right up.  The Resitance fighter was the comedy relief
though.

CONCLUSION

It went really well (most of the players were very skeptical beforehand,
and simply wanted to play 1st edition AD&D instead... Especially after
it took soooooo bloody long to make characters).  We used army men for
GOLEM, and then used push-pins and styrofoam for DOGS OF WAR.  Everyone
enjoyed themselves, myself included.  Everyone wants to play again. 
Thus it was a success.  Things went great.  There are certainly some
adjustments we'll make to the rules (which once settled on will be
posted on a web site).  The ease of grappling powerful opponents, and
the fact that the wolves seemed supernatural to them (they really seemed
overpowered) was harsh; but the fext is set up for a great ongoing
villain.

Cap