Wednesday, March 27, 2024

In which we get swarmed by bees

 Yup.  Bees.  Party of 6.  Average of 5th level.  And a dozen swarms of bees.  Two each in fact.  Theater of


the mind.  Lot's of dropping below 0 and MED checks and heal spells and bad rulings and stuff.  But as is the case with many sessions we did a lot that we'd never done before so the virgin territory provided most of the problems.

First the new "hits not HP" system.  Most users recommend rounding down.  But nooooo.  I couldn't do THAT.  I rounded up.  "It's only 1 more hit" I thought.  Yes.  But one extra hit over a dozen beasties with an AC of 14 has quite an impact.  So rounding DOWN from now on.  Otherwise the system worked quite well.  Next - the tactical adjustments.  Party had been complaining that since everything was attacking from a distance they could usually pick it apart with the expert marksman ranger and a smattering of spells.  So this time they stumbled on a honey thief being absolutely DESTROYED by angry bees.  And the clouds of apian hell descended upon them with great fury.  Those little buggers went earlier in the initiative order than the plodding ogre's and giant spiders had been.  Throw in the fact that they have damage resistance to most weapons and this thing became a SLOG.  Glass cannon forgot he had a magic wand.  That didn't help.  When he DID go down (quite early) I noted that the bees were no longer attacking him.  But nobody in the party acknowledge this.  And nobody tried to run!  'Cause they're heroes, dontcha know.  This was attributed to the fact that they couldn't really SEE what was going on.  So retreating wasn't an option?  Well, OK.  No more TotM.  Haven't run one of those in months anyway.  

A few other mistakes. Too many swarms.  Nine or ten woulda been better than 12.  One to the "low" characters, two to the high ones.  Mike Mearls recently recommended managing the action economy by avoiding using monsters that have move total actions per round greater than three times the number of players.  That number would by 18 for this encounter.  The bees can move and attack.  So nine swarms woulda worked better.  Lesson learned.

The LAST mistake (?) I made was in my treatment of Temporary HP.  I was treating it as healing.  It isn't.  So we'll avoid the yo-yo effect that we saw last night.  

So I gave the party what they wanted.  And then they didn't want it any more.  The fighter was barely touched but had trouble dealing damage.  The cleric did some healing and utility work and had a BALL trying to figure out what the optimum action was every round.  Druid took a beating and did OK but her spores were less than effective.  Two wizards took too much damage early to be as effective as they'd like.  And the ranger?  Without his +11 archery ability he was more or less worthless and NOT happy about it.  Party worked well as a unit, found a few holes in their procedures, and now know what they need to add/improve.  Which will lead to meaningful decisions.  

Not bad for a two-hour slugfest that didn't HAVE to happen.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

In which we end one test and begin another

 Hit points.  Been here a little bit before.  The XDM experiment was .... fun .... but kinda became wet


tissue paper at higher levels (5th and 6th.)  No problem with BBG's hanging around but the mooks became worthless and they were needed for BBG support.  Stuff was too easy.

So here's what we're (meaning "I'm") swinging to.  Kinda using Lazy DM's Forge of Foes to assemble combat encounters.  Some more development of the math.  Good starting points.  And I'm following Professor Dungeon Craft's suggestion of using Hits instead of Hit Points.  

In a nutshell: take creatures (average) HP, divide by 10 and round up.  A character hit is 1 hit.  A crit or sneak attack is 2 hits.  A spell attack is 1 hit per spell level, +1 if the caster is over 6th level.  MIGHT try rounding down instead of up if it gets too tough.  Will switch to MAX HP rounded down if it gets too easy.  This is only DM facing.  PCs still get the detailed treatment.  

Also.  A few weeks ago my table kinda swung into a thing of a meta-discussion after the session.  Been productive.  And I know exactly what they want - or at least what they think they want.  So they've been getting some "odd environmental" challenges in combat - mainly line of site stuff.  Which has de-buffed the ranger a tad.  They're outside most of the time so encounters are usually in the woods so 40-160 feet range.  And the party's picking them apart as they "close."  It's the edge of the razor.  Wanna scare them and push them but not kill them.  How does a hydra sneak up on a 6th level party in the woods?  Gotta get em back underground too. 

Friday, March 15, 2024

In which we revisit the Quantum Ogre.

 My attempted wanderings into the "open game" world has been, to say the least, wonderful and


productive.  I currently have a big story arc (which was NOT there at the outset) that the players asked for.  I have a secondary arc that loosely ties into the big arc to provide an occasional diversion.  And EVERY session provides the opportunity to drop plot hooks which may or may not tie in to either of those arcs.  

Short digression.  About a year ago the party had completed a long commute.  Two sessions of travel along a major trade route.  Four random encounter checks every day.  Natural disasters.  Medical emergencies.  Goblins.  And dozens of caravan wagons.  At the conclusion of the trip one of the PC's observed "it was kinda fun I guess but there were no plot hooks."  Another member of the party pointed out "we walked by dozens of people every day.  Every ONE of them likely had a plot hook of some type.  I didn't pursue them because I wanted to get here but there was no reason for you NOT to."  And that was the end of the discussion.  

 Justin Alexander has popularized the concept of the Three Clue Rule.  Essentially you make a rule available three different ways (or places) to ensure that it's found.  No one refers to them as Quantum Clues.  But aren't they?  Then there's Schrodinger's Troglodyte.  Before the players interact with the adventure everything planned by the DM is not fixed. It is only after the players interact with the adventure does anything become real and so fixed.

So, if the players explored 15 rooms of a 20-room dungeon, skipped the boss troglodyte room, leave and never return, then for now, only those 15 rooms are real. Dare I suggest that only the things the PCs interacted in those 15 rooms are the Chekhov’s Guns (from the story POV) and everything else including the boss troglodyte might as well not exits (from the story POV). At best those things the PCs missed exist in a Schrödinger’s Cat-like state of not quite existing.

And so it is with plot hooks.  If one applies the TCR only to those clues needed to advance the story then all other facets of DM prep are Schrodinger's Troglodyte.  Let's say I prep three potential encounters for my party:  placating a green dragon, fetching some phase spider spindles and guarding a grove from a cyclops and his buddies.  In keeping with the TCR I have multiple ways to set the hook.  Weavers.  Crazy old hermits.  Local lords.  Caravans.    If I plant one and they take it so be it.  They need to be couched as maybes and possibilities.  If they ignore it I can pocket it, file it away and throw it in front of them again in a month.  Because they're in Schrodinger's box with his cat and his troglodyte, both real and unreal.

So while the general view of the Quantum Ogre is that it's a bad thing, robbing players of their agency, I'm thinking Schrodinger's Troglodyte is a GOOD thing because it renders the players agency irrelevant while maintaining it?  That's CAN'T be right, but it SEEMS right.  Ideas?

 

 

https://dmsescritoire.blogspot.com/2021/08/in-which-we-attempt-to-slay-quantum-ogre.html

Thursday, February 22, 2024

In which I don't get a nibble


 

and the session STILL runs itself!

As foretold I rather unceremoniously dropped half a dozen plot hooks at the start of the session.  The hook for the primary and secondary story lines was dropped first along with a cryptic poem (emailed to them at the start of the session as my printer decided it no longer had ink!) and an item in a box (presented via the picture affixed to this post.)  The rest of the hooks were tertiary and to at least some degree class/race/character specific.  But the party latched on to one and clamped down like grim death.  "A heretical sect has produced a new translation of the book of the cleric's faith and must be hunted and captured. Those that do not recant are to be exterminated."

So off they went with our diminutive halfling Twilight Cleric in the fore.  So it took a while to get there.  A clearing in the woods.  The stone outline of the beginnings of as worship site.  A rough altar.  And a dozen followers.  The first hour or so of our session was spent talking to NPC's and weighing their options.  The NEXT hour was spent at the site with our cleric discussing theology with the leader of the sect.  I had done NO research on the topic.  I knew damned little about the deity worshiped by the cleric.  But I knew enough to respond to his questions and to present enough of a difference between what the cleric believed and what the sect was proposing as to make a difference.  The whole thing had a distinct "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" feel to it.  Is the sacrament the ACTUAL blood and body of Christ or is it symbolic?  The other two players and I engaged in some pleasant meta banter while the cleric feverishly read everything he could find on the interwebs, thinking I'd dug up some theological dilemma in the lore of some other setting.

And he found one!

And it was DAMNED close to the bushwa I had been slinging about  to keep the session moving.  After about an hour of THAT I realized I needed to do something to move the session along or else the entire evening would be filled the cleric and I sitting on tree stumps discussing philosophy.  NOT the stuff of legendary fantasy.  So I put it to the cleric - recant or exterminate?  He tried a persuasion check (high CR and with disadvantage) and failed.  At which point all hell broke lose.

Six PC's and a dozen religious zealots.  How long would it take to fight out at YOUR table?  Twenty five minutes.  Considering that half the party had just advanced a level and included four spell casters was not bad IMHO.  Each party member succeeded in plinking off 1-2 opponents quickly.  The cleric then strode the battlefield dealing the death blows to the remaining heretics.

About a hundred coins, a ceremonial dagger, and eight uncut stones.  The stones are "interesting" because it marks the first time I've given uncut stones as treasure.  They'll need to find a lapidary to turn them into gemstones.  I'll see how that goes.  About 1/5 of a level in XP with an additional 1/10 to the cleric.  I'll use the travel back to let the two wizards discuss the item that they were given at the beginning of the session and see if I might rekindle interest.  

One last concept introduced: I'm going to allow each PC to declare their own quest or goal and we'll agree how much XP it's worth.  Our ranger was quick to take the bait - "hit ten targets in a row during combat or competition, for XP worth 1/10 of a level."  Done!  Keep in mind he's 5th level with his father's +1 bow and a quiver which bestows an additional +1 so he's looking at +11 to hit.  We're looking at almost a 60% chance of success.  That'll be fun.  Looking fwd to seeing what the others come up with.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

In which they get what they asked for

 Table's been going for over three years now.  Third campaign.  First two ended in TPKs.  After each did


an exit interview and tried to incorporate the responses into the next one.  They were pretty good with everything except the over-arching plots.  They didn't want one.  "We wanna be itinerant monster and treasure hunters."  And they wanted a little more political intrigue.  And one wanted some big military stuff.  Maybe.

So I plopped them onto a corner of the planet ruled by noble houses with a complex web of interrelationships and intrigue.  Lot's of one shots and exploring.  And it seemed well received.  Until last session.  We ALWAYS spend a bit of time discussing the meta-game but after our last session they lamented the lack of a BBG and big plot line!  I was throwing two or three plot hooks at them every session, tailored for their class and backstory.  They knew they could pass on any and do whatever they wanted.  I was usually able to riff off their decisions.  But now five levels in they've decided they want the thing they didn't want!

And.

In each of the prior two campaigns I had an "out" adventure.  Something to run if someone couldn't make it or if things went south early.  First one was a book of fairy tales that pulled PC's in.  They fought the big bad wolf and Rumpelstiltskin and encountered the Bremen town musicians.  They liked it.  Second one was a demi-plane in a tapestry (lifted from Pathfinder.)  They liked it too.  And they wanted another one.  So it's tough when good ideas fall in your lap and then you're called upon to duplicate the result.

Anyway.

Spending this weekend spinning up a BBEG, an overarching storyline and a recurring diversion.  And I have one.  IF YOU'RE AT MY TABLE STOP READING THIS NOW.  Recurring diversion is a compass that opens gates to small demi-planes where I'll drop small strange worlds or 5-room dungeons with ever increasing CR monsters.  AND there's an AI nested inside of it, which siphons off magic and event energy and decides to evolve.  Hence the BBEG.  And lots of factions want control of it.  Which is the adventure arc.  So I'm done.  After reviewing every Pathfinder Adventure Path, D&D published campaign, the twenty steppers designed by Sly Flourish, and a raft of tired ideas on Reddit and other sites.  

But.

The party will be happy (I hope.)  I've advised there will be a raft of plot hooks next week and one of them MIGHT be the Big Arc and one of them MIGHT be the Recurring Diversion.  So we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

In which we learn a new word.

 Diegesis.  di-e-ge-sis.  [ˌdīəˈjēsis].  a narrative or plot, typically in a movie.  But more importantly it's


what happens IN the movie.  In Pulp Fiction there's a dance contest scene set to Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell."  That song/music is diegetic to the movie.  "Out of Limits" is played near the end of the film as Butch rides off with his girlfriend.  It is pure soundtrack.  NOT diegetic.

So what does this have to do with D&D?  As Prismatic Wasteland put it in their post back in '21 "Your

character’s broken leg is a diegetic injury, but losing their hit points is not."  I've always been a fan of diagetic character growth as opposed to non-diegetic.  Non-diegetic, to tie in to a post I made last week, is like Clark Kent dashing into a nearby phone booth and then bursting out as Superman.  Characters go into a battle at second level, kill a kobold or two and emerge as third level.  More hit points.  More spells.  More abilities.  I've always HATED that.  Imagine going to high school, sitting in classes for four year, but not acquiring any knowledge or skills until the end when they hand you a rolled up piece of paper.  Makes no sense.  

So what's the solution?  My return to the game has allowed me to read a crap-ton and keep my eye out for potential solutions.  Some are simply procedural.  I've become more aware of my spell-casters needs and manage to seen spells, books and scrolls in advance of  a PC being able to use them.  In our last session I knew that three PC's were QUITE close to getting the XPs they'd need to go from 1st to 2nd.  So I kept one eye on the XPs they earned and when they crossed the threshold, in media res, their class features manifested.  The Twilight Cleric was bathed in twilight and those around him felt relief, their fear was allayed and some gained hp.  The Circle of Spores Druid manifested her Halo of Spores and inflicted necrotic damage on her opponent.  Made for a nice cinematic moment.  All at the table loved it.  And they'll get the rest of the rights and appurtenances thereto between sessions. But still only a very small band-aid on a much larger "problem."  I do have two potential fixes, however.

Regular readers know I've abandoned feats and instead use the Smolensk Sage System.  When a PC advances a level there are rolls for each area of study to see what, if any, knowledge is obtained.  And it's all applied at once.  A player might acquire a handful of new skills all at once.  Or nothing.  So I'm going to try a little play test this next level.  I'll do all the rolls in advance, note the result and total the outcome.  Then as players advance toward the next level after each session I'll allocate the points randomly.  So instead of dashing into the phone booth after a successful interaction with the head of the cartographer's guild the abilities can be acquired a little at a time and introduced between sessions.  That way every XP counts, not just the last one.  You never know when some new skill/feat is going to fall into your lap so long as you are progressing.  

And the OTHER mechanic I recently stumbled on, via the above-linked post, is that of Ability Score improvements.  RAW you go adventuring and when you wake up at 4th level you're suddenly better at two of the six things you can do.  Whether you've used it or not.  Makes no sense.    I've been playing Sid Meyer's Civilization since Civ 1.  Unit's get promotion but you decide what they are.  Scouts are the first unit's you get.  When promoted they can get either a movement bonus through forests or over rough terrain.  In other words you can spend every turn marching over hilly rough terrain earning exploration XP but when you get your promotion you can improve your forest movement.  Makes no sense.  

So let's steal a mechanic from Freebooters on the Frontier (2.)  Any time the player tries to do something using one of the six abilities and fails they get a tic.  Five tics and they increase the AS by 1.  OK.  Not EVERY time.  A nat 1 is a critical failure and nothing good come from that.  But a 2?  That earns a tic.  Same for failure by 1 (? not sure about this.)  I'll play test and see what happens.  Fighting, casting and skill uses all count.  There's a 10% chance of getting a tic so the fifth tick should come after roughly fifty tries.  Assume a fighter.  Most of our combats are successfully resolved in 3-5 rounds.  So 10-15 combats.  RAW bumps the AS every four levels.  That would break down to 3-4 combats per level.  Spellcasters likely have fewer chances but should have more opportunities using other skills.  And this way there's no dashing into the phone booth.  There's merely a nice step of progress for using your abilities - the high AND the low.  

Would love to hear thoughts and input.  And I'm wondering: do I tell the players or just let them find out as they get the boost?

 

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

In which we answer some questions

 For some reason I stumbled across The DM in Paris who was answering a series of questions themed "How's My Campaign" posed by one Alex Schroeder on a Mastodon thread and for some reason I feel compelled to answer them as well.  

How many sessions have you been playing, more or less?

Of THIS version?  Under two dozen.  These players in this world?  Closer to fifty.

How long have you been running this campaign?

Started with these players in early July of '20.  Moved to this setting late July '21.  This specific campaign started in April '23

Have you had long breaks? If so, how did you pick it up again?

Yes?  We have some theater people in our group so we occasionally face multiple 6 week absences.  Our breaks are therefore planned and calendared and picking up is relatively easy.

How many people are at the table when you play?

Two to four people and myself.

How many characters are in the party when you play?

Two to six PC's and Rouf the cook/bearer.

How many players have you had in total over that time period, not counting guest appearances?

Six

Have you had guest appearances? How did it go? Did you gain regular players that way?

Had two guest appearances.  First time guest ran an absent player's PC.  Second time the guest ran a pre-gen.  Went well both times.  Did NOT gain a new player and knew we wouldn't.

What have the character levels been over time?

We start at 1st (or a funnel at 0).  First iteration got to double digits.  Second round got to low Tier II.  Current bunch has just hit 5th.

What classes did the players pick? Did you add new classes over time?

Current batch:  Fighter, Ranger and a Scribe Wizard with a support team of Twilight Cleric, Wizard and Circle of Spores Druid.  We've also had Barbarians and Rogues.  Not adding new classes but I will always discuss the possibility with the player.

Tell me about some adventures you ran over that time that I might enjoy hearing about?

Party found themselves in a caravanserai plagued by rare animal poaching.  They thwarted the thieves by "making a dragon" using Mage Hand and Minor Illusion.

Have the rule changes over that time? Do you maintain a house-rules document?

Yes.  And yes,  I've implemented a slew of DM facing mechanics and PC facing changes are always mentioned prior to and after play testing.  Document here

Has the setting changed over time?

It changes as players interact with it.  They managed to resolve a dispute between opposing Lordly Houses recently.  They also managed to aid (unbeknownst to them) a child sacrifice which brought prosperity to the region. 

How much in-game distance did the party cover, how big is the area they have visited?

Party has covered about 400 linear miles.  Triangulating we get an area of just under 3 million acres.  Smaller than Connecticut ... or Montenegro.  Triple Rhode Island.  Four x Georgia.

Have you used proprietary setting books? Like, could you publish your campaign or would you be in trouble if you did?

Nope.  And nope.  Although I DID for the '20 effort.