In which we visit the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker

As usual Alexis started it.  Still noodling the numbers on wages.  Figure something might gel by Labor Day.  In the meantime it provoked me to revisit one factor of the trade system I've never been comfortable with.  for h in hexes and I have been "corresponding" about our approaches to the mechanic.  He's a coder.  I'm a spreadsheet guy.  But we benefit from comparing notes.

To recap:  each settlement in the world produces things, dependent on size and location.  These things are disbursed over the planet based on distance from the source.  These resources can then be acted upon by those with the proper skills to make secondary (or tertiary, etc) products.  At each step the craftsman impacts the cost of the finished product.  This impact is determined by a factor, somewhere between .5 and 2 (?.)  The factor CAN be assigned to achieve whatever price range is desired for the product but that seems arbitrary.  

I had already adopted a system for deciding what businesses existed in a city, based on it's population, using MDME.  Why not plot the businesses for EVERY settlement, then determine how much impact they have on neighboring villages using the trade table.  The numbers the raw system gave me were WAY too large, but using the quad root proved to be ideal (so far.)  More testing to follow.

End result: the cost of anything you wanna buy is determined by the cost of raw materials, cost of the skilled tradesman to convert them, and the distance both of THOSE are from the purchaser.  As a general rule no settlement deals in anything that costs more than 1 gp per 10 pop (so 10%.)  So I can keep the shopping lists limited in small or out of the way locations.  Rarity creates conflict.  Conflict creates plot hooks.

In which we examine "The Promise."

Back in late May the Spriggan's Den wrote a very nice post entitled Making RPGs live up to their promise.  I let it simmer more a month and while I don't have a lot to add to the good parts I thought I'd make a somewhat responsive post to address some of the points raised.

The author begins by observing that 

"When anyone first tells new people about roleplaying games and what makes them such a cool activity, it’s nearly always about how you can play characters who are free to do anything and go anywhere, and how your choices create a unique story as the GM has the NPCs and the world react naturally and logically to whatever you can come up with. This is the promise that RPGs make to players, and I think that we all should expect these from any campaigns we play and don’t accept any campaign that doesn’t. Because what’s the point of all of it then anyway??

 So there's the premise (or rather, promise) of the article.  Why is this so often NOT so.  And can we MAKE it so?

 The author's next point was that there was a lot of "do not do these things" advice and it GREATLY outweighs the "do these things" advice.  Boy howdy.  Because the "dndtt" advice applies to virtually ALL tables while the "dtt" advice can be VERY table specific.  The last few months I've started spending WAY to much time on YouTube WATCHING this advice.  There are content creators I NEVER have to watch again.  There are others that I rewatch on the reg.  And there are some that I wonder "what the hell are they even doing on the inter-webs?"  They seems to be clowns, playing D&D.  And their game is terrible.  But for THEM?  They love it. And I'm sure their viewers do.  But if 95% of the DM's out there are watching it there is a serious Cargo Cult problem.

We then proceed to a series of premises.

#1.  The player  characters are the protagonists.  Well .... yes.  But as the author observes in published adventures the PC's are essentially henchmen, helping the king save his kingdom or the princess or whatever they're supposed to be saving.  And who wants to play a henchman? 

#2.  The players decide what the characters do.  But in most railroad games the players DO decide what to do but it's a decision without a difference.  The decision's players are given aren't driving the story.  They're deciding whether take the high road to the demon's cave or the low road.  Again: a problem with most published adventures.  

#3.  Players decide where the players go.  Short answer: so long as it's in the 24 pages of the published adventure.  And the author recognizes that as well.  Riding off into the night abandoning the demon-plagued village to its own devices MUST be an option.

#4 Players decide who they side with or against.  Don't like the quest giver?  Awesome.  Go join the other side!  As the DM - present the world.  Let it unfold.  And let the players decide which side of the fold they take.

#5.  The players decide which causes to pick up.  I've been through this recently in my game.  The party decided to let the wood elf war refugees fend for themselves and to let the blighted forest spread unabated.  They're headed west to The Crossroads to see what else is "out there."  And "out there" there's a whole social structure with people and groups who have a wide range of goals and drives.  And this was AFTER they took a stab at setting up a protection racket.  

#6.  They player characters are the champions of their cause.  See #1 above.  

#7.  The Antagonists of the Story are within the PC's means to challenge.  As the author observes, think Seven Samurai.  

It’s set in a world of constant civil wars with raiding armies and roaming bandits destroying and plundering all the villages they come across. There is a tale happening somewhere in that world about one warlord rising to the top, defeating and subjugating all the other warlords, and establishing a strong state that cracks down on the bandit problem. But The Seven Samurai is not that story. The heroes of that story do not have fight and defeat all the warlords and their armies to be victorious. They are just seven samurai with no resources and there is no way for them to win the civil war for the control over all of Japan. But that is not their story. Their story is about destroying a gang of some 30 bandits raiding a single unprotected village. This is a threat that the seven samurai are perfectly able to deal with and win against. Great warlords and their armies exist in this world, but they are not the antagonists of the story.  

Not sure I'm as married to this one as the others but it DOES make for a great campaign.  And it doesn't always have to be about saving the world.  Sometimes it's just about beating the Urbania Cowboys.  

#8.  Failure is always an option.  Failure reinforces that each eventual success was NOT a given but rather was the result of their own hard work.  

#9.  False conclusions are the fault of the players.  Or SHOULD be, if the DM is doing their job.  

I also left a comment at Spriggan's.  We'll see what discussion ensues.
 

In which we examine the Ranger

 and the druid and survival.  Kinda links in with my last few posts and recent all-too-brief discussions with The Boy.  Part of the initial observation was that MOST classes are identified by the neat thing they can do.  The Ranger, at many tables, is identified by the "boring" thing you no longer HAVE to do.

I take a "different" view of what a Ranger is/does than many tables, because I can read (!)  From D&D Beyond: 

Warriors of the wilderness, rangers specialize in hunting the monsters that threaten the edges of civilization—humanoid raiders, rampaging beasts and monstrosities, terrible giants, and deadly dragons. They learn to track their quarry as a predator does, moving stealthily through the wilds and hiding themselves in brush and rubble. Rangers focus their combat training on techniques that are particularly useful against their specific favored foes.

Thanks to their familiarity with the wilds, rangers acquire the ability to cast spells that harness nature’s power, much as a druid does. Their spells, like their combat abilities, emphasize speed, stealth, and the hunt. A ranger’s talents and abilities are honed with deadly focus on the grim task of protecting the borderlands.

For most parties the Ranger is wilderness travel plot armor.  It finds water, forages, hunts and builds shelters, protecting the party as it treks over the mountains, through the woods, along the edge of the veldt and across the desert.  But why?  NONE of those capabilities are granted in the preceding paragraph.  You get one type of creature you can "hunt" well.  And you get certain benefits in one type of biome.  Again, relying on Beyond, it may now travel faster, not get lost or surprised, garner double the food when foraging and detect number and time passed when tracking.  When NOT in their chosen biome these benefits do NOT accrue.  Three days w/o water?  Party is dead.  One day?  Levels of exhaustion set in and further searching rolled at disadvantage.  RAW require one pound of food per day.  Balderdash.  A half orc wearing plate and fighting would need over four TIMES that amount to maintain 100% efficacy. 

So what DO we do?  As is often the case I've gone down the Alexis rabbit hole.  We don't use "feats" but we DO rely on "sage abilities."  Under that system a ranger obtains knowledge in Wilderland (which I match with the players chosen biome.)  Within this biome familiarity the Rangers gains expertise in such things as identifying clean water, locating water, foraging, and all that other Rangery stuff.  Mechanics.  Crunch.  Worldbuilding.  None of this one die roll and feed the party regardless of where you are or what time of year it is.  As per usual I've set the whole thing up on a spreadsheet.  An untrained forager MIGHT find 1/2 a pound of food per day.  And it takes time.  We divide the amount of food found by 10 and there's that much found per hour.  If the chart indicates you find 24# of food (my current party, forest, May, temperate) that's 2.4# per hour.  You decide how much travel time you wanna spend foraging!  Need 10#?  You're looking at 5 hours although I might be generous and allow 4.  

Hunting is another sage ability.  No-skilled hunters MIGHT find something.  But it can take TIME.  Resource management.  

Our current problem?  Our ranger opted to focus on animal training rather than wilderlands.  So he COULD (but hasn't yet,) catch and train a falcon!  Bird can hunt three pounds of meat at a time!  But the Ranger is not yet skilled at these things - by choice.  Could be by 4th level.  Perhaps I should've been more pushy at character creation but the whole Beastmaster thing seemed strong.  

Bottom line .... if you WANT your Rangers to be plot armor (cf Druid Goodberry) you do you.  We tend to be a bit more gritty.
 

 

In which we revisit equipment

 I've been spending WAY too much time watching TTRPG Youtube videos and recently stumbled across a spate of them talking about equipment.  What, how much, where, how - all the good stuff, much of which I've touched on before.  There's a lot of handwaving going on at a lot of tables due to cost, encumbrance, etc.  Not at mine.  You either have it or you don't.  But what DO you have?  Or what MUST you have?

A quick perusal of the starting equipment in 5e and PF2 yields some good but not definitive answers.  is Both are crawling with packs and kits.  Excluding specialty stuff it appears the generic adventure starts with a backpack, bedroll, mess kit, tinderbox, and a waterskin.  Also frequently mentioned is rope, chalk, soap, torches and the dreaded iron rations.  Surprisingly no clothing.  Or footwear!  Inadequate.  

So here's what WE do:  we follow RAW on starting equipment, but after that there's a "required minimum."  Players are responsible for their own equipment list but I tinker with it.  I use a "wear" table.  All items are either new, used, worn or useless.  I check on my "decay table" after a month OR three days in the wilderness OR one day in the dungeon.  Players are notified when an item becomes worn (time to replace.)  Last campaign we had a bard and a druid whose main contributions were just keeping all the equipment in good repair via their Mend spells (house ruled to 1st lvl.)  Run out of torches?  Or tinderbox?  Tough luck Skippy.  

But some things it seems to me MUST be "owned."  Clothing.  Footwear.  Backpack.  Bedroll.  Mess kit.  Waterskin.  So when those become useless (ie, if the players didn't replace when "worn") I'll replace them when they're available.  If they give out in the wild?  Exposure, slowed movement, no rests (long becomes short, short vanishes), dietary distress, dehydration.  A tent might join this list.  Previous party had a couple members skilled at "roughing it" so it wasn't required.  We'll see what happens when they hit inclimate weather.

Side note:  calendar has turned to spring so the party was peeling out of their winter clothes and into something a little lighter for travel.  I was checking prices in the small settlement they were occupying when I saw that WINTER clothes cost over 600 gp!!  Figured there was an error somewhere in the numerous formulas and recipes that go into the calculation so I started tracing it back.  And found the issue.  No sheep!  This community has no shepherds.  So all wool and wool products must be "imported."  I casually mentioned this to the party.  Not directly but I DID mention that the incoming caravans were carrying, among other things, iron (ingots, bars, rods) as there's none mined locally, other metals, and raw wool as well as wool clothing!  They've JUMPED at the chance to clear a mine so they could claim part of the income.  Wonder if they'll try to help out a family in need by setting them up in the sheep biz? 

In which we get circular with the action economy, encounter balance, magic items and the action economy

 The steepest learning curve when I made my foray back into D&D was absorbing all the nuances with the action economy.  And I'm sure I'm still absorbing but the WORST of it has been realized and I'm dealing with it.  Here are the problems I'm cramming into this post - how do magic items impact party level for using CR to achieve encounter balance and what role does the action economy play therein?

As a baseline, I rely on the Sly Flourish encounter benchmark.  This will tell me roughly what CR the "bbg" would be to be deadly, hard, etc.  The PROBLEM was I was taking THAT number and plugging in a relevant creature to be that bbg.  And they were getting thumped in short order, largely because each character could do four things each while the bbg could only do four things.  Period.  Even with a lair action they were slammed.  

So here's my first modifier:  once the formula determines the suggested CR I cut it in half.  THAT'S my bbg.  The OTHER half I divide by the number of party members so that each of them "gets a minion" to oppose. My favorite use of this was a vrock accompanied by a handful of quasits.  Good combat variety and the party had their hands full fighting not just the vrock but the action economy problems presented by a handful of minions.  As deadly as those ancient red dragons are they can be action economied to death quite quickly.  But a young red dragon with four wyrmlings is a MUCH tougher problem.  So suggested CR, divided by 2 to get the bbg, and divided again by party number to get supporting cast.  Hat tip to Ginny Di for her recent vid which kinda got this ball rolling in my head

The OTHER problem that I recently brushed up against is that is SEEMS that everybodys encounter balance guide is based on party/character level per se, but doesn't really incorporate magic items.  Example:  my current party has thee 2nd lvls and a 4th.  That's a total of 10.  A suggested deadly encounter would be a 2.5.  So an ankheg or a basilisk.  But what if your barbarian has a +2 weapon, your rogue's AC is buffed and one of your casters has a staff of X that increases it's DPR.  It's no longer an average of 2.5.  Closer to 3.5 or better.  That ankheg is now quite a bit easier.  The basilisk isn't the bbg it was GOING to be and maybe a banshee or barghest would be more threatening.  Lesson here is that IF the party is perhaps "overmagiced" you'll need to juice that CR suggestion a bit.  IMHO this is where many of the complaints about CR and encounter balance originate.

Edit to add:  OK - HERE'S an interesting solution I'm gonna play around with a bit:  Trekiros recently began popping up in my suggested playlist and here are TOW vids related to this topic - first the intro to a new aid and the second reviews some updates.  Here's a link to the tool.

To recap (TL:DNR): almost ALWAYS use multiple opponents for that deadly encounter and juice the CR to allow for magic items.  And if you use that tool, drop in here and leave a comment!

In which we go INSANE!

 Need a new mechanic to toy with a wizard at my table .... and insanity seems to fill the bill.  RAW sucks so I poked around on the interwebs to find something I liked that would work my table.  Now I LIKE Luke but he CAN  be a bit over the top sometimes.  In this case he "leaks" his system in the video so I went through to scrape what I could and fill in the rest on my own.

So when a character becomes "inflicted" they roll 1d10, take the following affliction and insanity points:

d10	Tier 1 Flaw	Insanity Increase
1	Character is constantly on the lookout for enemies whether they are there or not.  Feels as though something malicious has its eyes staring at the back of their head	1
2	Shadows seem to dance about within the characters mind, as though something is waiting within them looking for its chance to attack	1
3	Always anticipating combat.  Fingers continuously caressing hilt of weapon or spine of spell book, awaiting the fight to come	2
4	Mind frequently wanders to thoughts of the other party members judging abilities to be inadequate.  Enemies do the same.  You are driven to prove them wrong.	2
5	Character has endured threats, betrayal and ambushes throughout their journey.  You hold a deep-seated fear of anyone who is not a close friend, causing you to begin to draw your weapon whenever you meet a new acquaintance	3
6	You question whether you are truly prepared for what the day may hold.  You are compelled to inspect weapons, armor and equipment for minor defects every morning.  You repeat this inspection throughout the day	3
7	Your trust in most of the people you meet during the day is broken.  Other than the party you omit information or outright lie to avoid telling anybody anything that might be used against you.	4
8	The frequency of the attacks you have endured has broken your trust in their surroundings. They do not feel they can get any meaningful rest without thoroughly observing their surroundings and taking action against any perceived threat.	4
9	The characters begin recognizing similarities between current and past events that don	5
10	DM's option	5

d8	Tier 2 Flaw	Insanity Increase
1	The character is having trouble remembering where they put things.  After completing a long rest there's a 25% chance a character will lose one non-magical item from inventory	3
2	The traumatic events the character has experienced have begun replaying in their mind, even when they're awake.  They're finding it increasingly difficult to look at wounds, blood, and other injuries, giving them disadvantage on Medicine checks.	3
3	Fear of the supernatural has begun taking over the characters mind, making them recoil at the sight of magical effects, both divine and arcane.  You have disadvantage on Arcana and Religion checks.	4
4	The screams and pain associated with the traumatic events have taken over your thoughts.  You have difficulty maintaining a ruse or act.  Disadvantage on Deception,  Intimidation and Performance.	4
5	You are struggling with your nerves, making it difficult to stay still for any period of time or remain hidden.  Disadvantage on Stealth or Slight of Hand checks.	5
6	The monsters and people you've faught have created a deep-seated anxiety.  As a result they have disadvantage on Insight and Persuasion checks except with those you know very well.
7	The characters constantly observe the area around them for any sign of danger making it difficult to notice small details.  Because the character struggles to notice small details the have disadvantage on Investigation and Survival checks.	6
8	The characters memory has begun to fade and it has become difficult to hold on to new information.  They now have disadvantage on History and Nature checks	6

d8	Tier 3 Flaw	Insanity Increase
1-2	The trauma is now effecting your ability to concentrate.  Each round while concentrating you must make a CON 17 to maintain it.	6
3-4	Experience intense fear whenever close to an enemy.  If within 10' must make a WIS 17 ST.   Failure means overcome with fear - run away	7
5-6	The distractions in your mind make you lose control of magic items.  After a long rest there is a 25% chance you lose atunement to an item.  If not atuned you lose the ability to use 1 item until you spend 1 hour reviewing.	8
7-8	The trauma iby 1d6-1s taking an effect on your capabilities, making you hesitate in battle.  There's a 15% chance you cannot act on a given round.	9
9-10		10

 Once the character goes over 40 Insanity Points they have a 50% chance of undergoing a complete mental breakdown.  When THAT happens they get NO benefit from ANY rest, can only make an unarmed attack, and wander aimlessly.  

When a character undergoes a triggering event roll on the current Tier level.  Character takes on that flaw and IP increases the indicated number.  One flaw per tier at a time, but up to DM if they change.  

Insanity is treated by downtime.  Every 7 days of downtime reduces the IP by 1d6+1.  During this down time the character living expenses are multiplied by 10 for level 1, 100 for level 2, 1k for level 3.  Level 4 can ONLY be treated with a wish spell.

 

In which we tinker with magic ... again.

 Sitting at the table a couple sessions back.  In the heat of combat Kirkus exclaims ... well, something.  He's hard to understand when the arrows are flying.  Seems he WANTED to cast Hunter's Marck but as he's the closest thing to a healer in the party he knew he HAD to hold on to his goodberries (heh.)  Using that last spell slot is ALWAYS a tough call.  Our game is all about asset management - spells, slots, encumbrance, ammo, hit points, food - so this is the norm.  But what if we could "shift" the problem.

Which is when I fortuitously ran across THIS youtube.  The text version is available here.  We ARE using a similar "rest" rule, so this could easily work.  I sent a rough suggestion to the party and we discussed it at close of play last week.  Heading into 16 days of down time AND taking a week off so next session will be a good time to implement.  Here's the version we're gonna try:

Does NOT apply to cantrips or rituals.

No more slots.  Instead, casting a spell requires a successful spell casting check, one free hand (if needed), and your arcane focus. The level of spells you can cast is as per RAW.

spell casting check DC equals 10 + spell level (including upcast.) Roll 1d20 + proficiency + spell casting ability modifier. (Aerialayna would be +2, Kirkas +3, Dakora +5 and Terestan +6)

 

*additional add: finite number or recasts before the DC check incfreases. May cast up to Arcana check in a magic user, Nature check if Druid or Ranger, Religion if Cleric or Paladin, Performance if Bard ... and I'll make up the rest as needed. 

Failure means spell is lost until next long rest

Nat 20 lets you double EITHER damage dice, number of targets, range, area, or duration. Or recovery of a lost spell.

Nat 1 you either make a sacrifice (Clerics, Druids, Bards, Rangers, Rogues, Paladins) ranging from a 5 gp value at 1st level up to 500 gp at 9th OR suffer an arcane mishap (all other classes.) These result in exhaustion and damage done to all within range.

Sim Sala Bim: a caster who fails a roll MAY supplement their total by sacrificing .... something. Arcane spells cost sanity. No worries until you go over 10. Treatable via lengthy downtime. Primal spells cost exhaustion. Divine spells cost HP. AND the spell is then lost until you get a long rest. Cannot be used on any spell that raises creature above 0 HP.