Saturday we had our second 8 hour session playtesting the rules of DRAG%N.  First session can be found here.

New changes that we used that were different from the first session:
* Every character rolls 1d10 for new HP rather than have it tied to the Core Die (CD) type.
* Instead of rolling % die + bonuses and compare against target difficulty number, moved to a roll under system.  Both for combat and skills.  So now characters just rolled the % dice and if it was at or below their rating, it was a success.  Defense ratings had two options to handle with this change: 1) take the defense % of the target and apply it as a penalty to the attacker's to hit roll, or if the attack hits, the defender rolls the % dice and if it's at or below their defense %, they were able to dodge.  The players liked to use the latter because it gets them actively involved (rolling dice) when it wasn't their turn.
*Introduced the Wizard class theme tree (all magic is cast through a staff or wand, which could also be used to attack enemies in melee).

We played all the way through the UK2 module and were able to finish it.  Conversion was super easy from AD&D to DRAG%N.  After talking with Papa Kurst and listening to rumors, the party headed out towards the stockade.  One of the PCs had the Beast Mastery tree with some abilities learned from it, so he had a wolf.  While he hadn't learned the ability of telepathy with the bonded beast yet, it was invaluable as a watch dog.

When the group finally approached the stockade, they decided to watch it for a while.  Tim (the wizard) make an intellect check (there are no abilities in this game, but things like strength and intellect are treated like regular skill checks) and noticed that the helmets on the stockade wall were not moving.  Grognar the Gray decided to fire a crossbow bolt at one of the helmets.  He took a long aim action (normally you would skip your turn and go on the next turn for a +50% to hit) and fired.  The first bolt flew wide, but they noticed no reaction from the "guards".  Grognar fired again and hit one of the helmets.  Convinced they were fake guards, the party cautiously entered the stockade.

After seeing the entrance and the decor, Soliary made a lore check and determined the skeletons and skins were decorated in a style common to goblins (I replaced the Xvarts with goblins).  Jace's wolf began to growl (it could smell the cougars in the caves but obviously the party didn't know that).  They also detected humanoid tracks and decided to climb the hill directly above the entrance.  Jace the elf used his earth magic to form a short earthen berm for them to hide behind.  Within an hour, they spotted five humanoid individuals enter the stockade (Latvia and her sons).  As they got closer, Tim made a lore check and could see that they were half orcs.  The party was able to remain undetected.  While making their plans, one of the half orc sons and his two cougars exited to patrol the stockade.  The party wanted to remain hidden, but Jace's wolf began barking and the cougars immediately went on the attack.

The two big cats went for the wolf while the orc called an alert and used his sling (the party still had elevation bonuses).  Soon Latvia and her sons were there and a big battle occurred.  Jace's wolf died and Grognar died from a sneak attack but the player used one of his Cinema Points to instead allow him to live, albeit with 1 HP remaining.  When it was down to just Latvia and one of her sons, they surrendered and begged for mercy.  The party accepted.  They interrogated the orcs, and got the map to the skulk lair, but did not take any of the items of the slain orcs nor did they actually enter the lair.

On their way to the skulk villa, they ran across the monk who needed to find the books of his fellow monk, but the lair was guarded by gargoyles.  A lore check revealed that the gargoyles were immune to non-magical weapons, which the party did not have.  They promised to return and help the monk.

When coming to the villa, the party cautiously and meticulously began to search the area.  Diego (a dwarf warrior) found himself poisoned by a giant centipede, but Tim was able to cure it before it became fatal.  The party quickly dispatched the two perytons and found a short sword that was enchanted.  Whenever the command word was spoken, it would be engulfed in flame, causing +1CD in damage.  They then found the peryton nest and Jace took one of the fledglings to raise, and eventually become a new bonded animal.

In the temple area, Saliary nearly died from the sheet phantom, and in the underground section, the party quickly discovered that attacking the main Whisp and ignoring the lesser whisps was the way to go.  They avoided the common goblin room, and defeated the wererat with relative ease.  They came to the shaman's quarters and peered through the hide door.  Making a slit, Grognar fired his crossbow at the shaman, scoring a critical hit and felling him in one shot.  The room erupted in chaos, the goblins failed their morale, and fled.  The party followed them back to the common room where they could hear the goblin leader rallying his male goblin warriors.  The party quickly entered and focused fire on the leader, quickly taking him down.  With both leaders slain, the remaining goblins failed morale horribly and fled.  The party eventually found the skulk and the sentinel, and cleared out the rest of the villa, turning it into their own base of operations going forward.  

With the urging of the sentinel, they began to head towards the keep to destroy the gauntlet.  They met the monk again and fought the gargoyles.  This time with a magic sword, spells, and Tim using his staff (which counted as a magical weapon) to slay them.  Rather than solve the riddle of the witherweed, Tim entered the room, slammed his staff to the ground to cast his Sonic Blast spell, which blew a clean path to the room beyond.

After retrieving the books, we ended the adventure there before the next module began.

Results:  Roll under worked much better.  The wizard staff was a bit too powerful in melee (treated as a normal 2-handed weapon +1 damage per wizard level).  Will probably get rid of that bonus.  And I think each theme tree will need to gain some extra abilities right off the bat to help match fluff with mechanics.  I.e., someone with the Control theme, in addition to a +1% bonus to hit with every level, would probably have that increased to +2% to hit and start with improved parry rather than have that as one of his abilities to learn.

How close to 100 can rolls get?

If the rolls can be 100 or higher, a useful mechanic can be 'If you made the roll by half and the opposed roll did not make it by half, you succeed'

This can be very useful to prevent near automatic success.

Might not be a factor if rolls do not get close to 100 though.