The Orphans bite off more than they can chew when they target the Skovlanders’ vice den in Charhollow…
First time I’ve ever run an unsuccessful score – not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because the concept didn’t fit the strengths of the two PCs (Lurk & Hound) well, maybe because they got a terrible engagement roll, or maybe because their stress pool was pretty low to start out with and so they had little ammunition to dig themselves out of the hole
I don’t think I linked to the previous session either – whereby after a fractious peace deal is hammered out with the Billhooks, they steal a scroll from a rival cult for Lord Scurlock
apokalypsisrpg.blogspot.ie – Book Deal
I’ve only seen one “failed” score in my games either, and that arose when we had only 2 PC’s as well (normally our group size is 3 + myself as GM). My perception is that the dip from 3 to 2 PC’s is a big deal due to the way Stress and Harm can bring about a “Fail Spiral”. Having only two playbooks to spread around the Harm causes a faster ‘pain curve’, lowering effect and giving dice pool penalties, while lack of Stress to spare makes it painful to Assist or Push as freely as a larger party can. Overall Action die results drop lower as a result of these interactions.
The party is basically very ‘brittle’ to a run of bad-luck or even just rolling lots of 5s and below over an extended period. It seems like they run out of gas a lot faster then when all 3 PCs are around.