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?

 

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.

 

In which we roll for initiative.

Have I done this before?  Feels like I've done this before.  The last 7-10 days I've seen a handful of YT's
about this topic and read at least double that in blog posts.  "Initiative is broken.  Here's how to fix it."   IMHO Initiative RAW is NOT broken (even though we don't use it.)  Execution is broken.  Implementation is broken.  But the rule itself is reasonable sound.  All of the "team initiative," "go in order around the table,"  "popcorn," etc. will NOT "fix the problem."

Quick recap:  I'm old.  There were only 48 US states when I was born.  I began playing the 1977 or 78.  Stopped in the mid-80's.  Picked up again about five years ago.  Missed out on 2, 3.5 and 4 but I'm familiar with the rule sets.  And here's the thing - I'm also COMPUTER LITERATE.  And I do NOT understand why more DM's do NOT use a computer to assist running their game.  I'm not talking about on-line players (although in many cases, yes, them too.)  

The idea is to reduce the time spent on simple, repetitive, mundane tasks that detract from player (and DM) enjoyment.  The tabulating and collating of initiative order is a GOLDEN example of this.  No matter what fancy named system you're using at your table it could probably be faster with the use of a laptop to hand basic repetitive computation and collation.

I implemented this procedure three years ago, players love it and I've never had a problem.  It's allowed me to keep a brisk pace during combat while keeping the players involved.  It is VERY adaptable to whatever style of initiative you prefer.  And I'm gonna give it to you free, gratis for the mere price of your continued love, affection and admiration.

Let's start with a bit of background about the homebrew that I manage to run via this sheet.  Hopefully the benefits will be obvious.   We roll initiative every round.  Players roll 3d6 and apply their initiative factor.  Takes seconds.  If they have advantage they roll 4d6b and drop the lowest.  Now to the spreadsheet. Column 1 lists the characters in no particular order.  Further down the column I list (as part of my game prep) the creatures they'll likely be encountering.  I also keep brown bear stats handy because they can stand in for a LOT of things.  Column 2 I enter the players results.  Opponent results are generated by the sheet.  I then apply any encumbrance penalty (because we USE encumbrance rules.)  So now I have a column of numbers generally ranging from 3 to 18, tailored and matched to everyone in the encounter.  

Nothing surprising there.  Any DM might do that.  Simple.  But the NEXT step is where the magic happens.  I apply a little conditional formatting to those numbers.  Whoever goes next is highlighted in green with those on deck in yellow.  When combat hits I can open with "Jutoris, you go first.  Kharkon is next."  Party knows that I don't tell them who's next, it's a critter.  

NOW is where it get's spicy.  Everything that the might do has a cost.  Daggers are fast.  Crossbows are slow.  Etc.  And you can't do everything at once.  So let's say Jutoris goes first.  He does his thing (be it moving, casting, or any other action.)  The cost of that thing goes in column 3.  Column 2 reflects that cost and the number goes down.  The conditional formatting then changes Kharkon to green (next) and whatever initiative is next to yellow.  I'll describe Jutorus' action/outcome, mention which player is on deck (if one IS) and then proceed to Kharkon.  Jutorus is NOT done and doesn't know when he will be up next. All players have to maintain focus on the situation because they aren't sure when they'll be called upon to act.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

We do more but for the purpose of THIS post that's all that matters.  Once everyone has done all of their things in the action economy we re-roll and fire it up again.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  Player involvement and agency.  Cinematic action resolution.  Quicker combat.  And crunchy rule implementation.     

In which we playtest

 Welcome to 2024.

First session of the year went pretty well.  The relief column was played quickly with some nice flavor.  Our ranger who began as a bombastic embellisher has caught a lot of flak from our high elf fighter.  This column is partly mounted and our three heroes have been given horses for the task.  Only the ranger HAS horsemanship as a skill.  The wizard wisely led her animal or allowed it to be led but the steed of the haughty fighter kept wandering off the trail and onto the side of the road to graze, only to be retrieved by the ranger, who is now leading her like a kids pony ride.  Sweet.

Meanwhile back at the keep the newbies spent an hour trying to figure out how to get a lit torch through an arrow slit without being seen.  Was a GREAT example of the adage "when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail."  They insisted on trying to physically relocating the torch then lighting it with magic (fire bolt.)  Eventually they realized they could LIGHT it first (with their tinder box) then transport it via Mage Hand.  Even then it didn't work as the bandits merely threw it back out, but it killed a fun hour.

So what got playtested?  I'm using the Open Multiple Files app again, which was helpful.  My magic and encumbrance sheet came in handy.  And I'm still learning the in's and out's of my own combat sheet and improving it's use.  Unbeknownst to the party I've been using Tracy & Curtis Hickman's combat damage table from XDM.  Mooks were going down with relative ease until the player rolled max damage but the table only gave them 50%.  They were shocked and panicked and they realized they were facing "Mongo" and not EVERY bandit was a pushover.  Nice moment.  The Players/DMs Handbooks I assembled worked as designed as well.

Which bring us to Nimble.  LOTS of good ideas but many aren't worth the walk: the solutions they offer to several problems are no more elegant than the problem they solve AND they're a step to far in some instances.  Attacking is FAR too simplified. Exhaustion is what many tables are already using.  Dying rules are too forgiving.  Our resting rules are better but they do have some interesting mechanics to use on the backside.  Mana is nice but our current spell slot system is "better."  And by better I mean my players like it, have bought into it and I don't wanna throw ANOTHER system at them.  

But their brew for Action Points is simple, elegant, makes sense, provides more player agency and got pretty quick buy in from my players.  Instead of move, action, bonus action and reaction you get three (or more) Action Points.  Almost everything costs 1 AP.  Exceptions are leveled spells that take 1 action to cast, which cost 2 AP, and special abilities or features that allow bonus actions (eg. step of the wind, action flurry) cost 0 and may only be done once per round.  Doing anything a second or third time adds stacking disadvantage (so you COULD attack three times but the second would be 2d20 and the third would be 3d20.)  The exception to THIS is ST spells.  The target would instead get advantage on the ST.  Done.  Almost.  High WIS gives a bonus to the #of AP's you have in the first round, improving not how EARLY you act but rather how OFTEN.  Might peel this one off.

And there's some "heroic" stuff as well.  PC may use 1 AP to block (reduce damage by your AC modifier.)  Opportunity attacks are now made at disadvantage and mooks don't have them.  Should make the battle field a little more fluid.  Also added a called shot critical.  On any attack you decide what a critical hit is (up to +10) (rolled with disadvantage) but a critical miss becomes just as big.  Essentially you can take a 50/50 shot with amplified failure.  This one needs more work.

 So how did all of this go in actual play?  Meh.  I had three casters fighting bowmen at range most of the time so a lot of this stuff didn't matter.  Until members of the party got close to 0 hp.  Blocking prevented a death.  There was a discussion while the party was pinned down about using the Called Shot Crit and the more I've thought about it the more I don't like it.  But here's a fix.  You can still do it BUT it's limited to 1 point (5%) per level AND there's a critical miss with multiple effects (ie roll twice on the critical hit table and double the results .... or triple .... etc.) 

A good session but further testing needed for the AP change.  AND the Called Shot Critical. 

<edit 1/12 to add> also got a chance to use "our new" fumble table.  Druid defending a section of keep wall.  Lizardfolk breeched the wall and melee ensued.  Druid Nat1's her first attack.  Rolled a 6 for a CHA ST - her penultimate state.  Failed ... and the free attack misses.  Was quite dramatic.  Player actually insisted on acting out her botched feint.  And the party agreed this (so far) was a GREAT mechanic!