The replacement hero rolls in. Daniel (@dungeondive) draws Joan Deeb, a 3/4/1/2/4 healer carrying grenade-throwing knives, a serrated dagger, and two companions — a +3-dex combat-bonus character (with an item-search bonus that fetches a grenade) and Joseph Marks the sniper. Mid-run rule adjustments: win conditions become ten base and ten elite, in any order, and the comet-track placeholder becomes a spawn-roll every three turns.
Joan Deeb’s start is forgiving — an armour-suit strength check fails kindly (+3 courage, the suit falls like dominoes onto its neighbours), then a low-stakes search nets Amelia Earhart’s flight goggles, an item granting a d6 upkeep roll for audacity. A few rooms later: a spike-trap room (failed knowledge check, −5 health) and a spider-pit Danger Room spawning a poisonous spider. Combat dice pool of nine (dex 4 + companion +3 + throwing-knives +2) ends the spider in a single roll — two natural sixes and a five against combat value three, no armour, no damage taken. First kill banked.
Daniel uses the spider segment to argue cardboard monsters-as-standees beat plastic miniatures: stats live on the standee itself. Form and function.
Vampirella’s mythos saves vs Joan Deeb’s knowledge fails — the run divides cleanly on which stat each hero leans on. Which stat would you spec for first in a game like this?