You're a Mean One, Mr. Gish
I have posted my entry into the Winter Holiday Encounter Contest, an adventure for 5 15th level PCs that takes them up the slopes of Mt. Crunchit to face a certain green-skinned thief and his trusted companion with a fake horn.
You can read the entry over at the Wizards Community Forums, along with some customized monsters and my first attempt at doing both a full, written-out encounter with a map to go with it.
Check it out, and have a Merry Crunchmas.
YouTube Tuesday: Rule the Sky Edition
Animated trailer for EN Publishing’s War of the Burning Sky adventure path, spanning all levels, available for both 3.5e and 4e D&D. (Plus, buying it supports ENWorld, our favorite D&D forum.) Pretty cool teaser, and besides, how often do you get to see a trailer for D&D adventures?
Chasing the Dream: Chatty Moves One Step Closer…
A few weeks ago I wrote a very personal post about the state of me and what I wanted to do with my still nascent writing life.
In that article, I posted a list of what I wanted to do in the short to mid term to achieve my ultimate goal: becoming a writer that can help his wife sustain a family of 4 without having trouble making ends meet.
Sounds simple huh? Well it’s a hell of a lofty goal. I’ve spent months following the antics and struggles of far better writers than I like James of Men with Pens, Bob of The Writing Journey and E of Geeks’ Dream Girl. It became apparent that the life of a successful freelance writer, while possible, requires the same 4 ingredients of success found in all other endeavors: Talent, Luck, Work and Attitude (and some more work).
I know I have all of those… heck, I’ve a D&D adventure and an article in an Ennies-winning magazine coming up this winter. That’s why I’ve started believing I could turn my life around a writer’s career.
However, I also talked with many members of the RPG industry, mostly writers, editors and designers that have been doing it for some time. I came to realize that unless I move to Seattle and convince Wizards of the Coast or Paizo to hire me, writing for RPGs is not a job I want to do full time if I plan to fulfill my part of the family’s financial responsibilities.
Please understand that as a professional slowly creeping up to 40, I’ll never take a 25k$ job as a game designer nor work as a 1 cent per word freelancer, I’m 10-15 years too old for that. My responsibilities, skill set and experience dictate that I either go for the big fish now or change industry. After 30 months blogging, I consider my industry internship over.
So that’s why I’m being very careful about the whole things and being very methodical. Thus, in order to become a self-sustained writer, and succeed in doing it, I came up with a plan with my wife and my friend Math.
The plan is
- Get Better before taking any life changing decisions
- Explore how I could work part time to feed my family and get more time to teach/write
- Pitch writing ideas/projects to create a predictable revenue pipeline
Well project 2 came true over the weekend. I was able to convince my company’s HR to grant me part-time status (3 days a week, full schedule flexibility) as of January 4th. This means I’ll free up some days to prepare the five 2-day seminars I’m going to give a few times a year. I’ve also been contacted for an interview about a technical college part-time teaching gig in pharmaceutical sciences. More importantly, I’ll have actual writing time!
I’ve also tackled project 3. That’s why those following me on Twitter have seen me going on and on about preparing pitches for Dungeon and Dragon magazines. I wrote 4 in hopes of getting one or two approved to work on next spring (the approval process can be long). I’ll write more pitches, to both Wizards of the Coast and Kobold Quarterly early next year.
I want to build a bigger RPG name for myself so that I’ll be able to sell more than 15 copies of D&D adventures if and when I decide to start my own imprint.
My eventual model for a part-time RPG business is Monte Cook‘s. While I don’t think I’ll put my name on a Dungeon Master Guide in the next decade, I admire how he combined his spotless geek cred with a very high quality product line (his wife Sue is likely an Editor Goddess) and his growing loyal fan-base to create a solid enterprise that supported him (and maybe still does).
I also plan to branch outside of RPGs (remember, kids to feed). I’ve a good head for scientific writing, psychology and management and I know my conversational style is tailor-made for coaching in these fields, so I’ll look into that.
In the mean time, I’m also building myself a teaching/seminar catalog to make ends meet. Teaching is (surprise, surprise) second nature to me and I absolutely love doing it. Except now, unlike 12 years ago, I can do it on my terms and with an adult population.
Anyway, I just thought I’d share the good news, I recall when online personalities I followed like Scott Kurtz made moves to get the lives they wanted for themselves. I’m happy to see that I too can now do it.
It’s going to be a great journey, I can feel it.
Inq. of the Week: Seasons Greetings
Two weeks ago, Bartoneus asked about how frequently you visit your friendly (or not so friendly) local game store. 26% of you said several times a year, indicating many of you who just pop in when you need to (perhaps around the holiday season for gifts) but aren’t regulars. However, 19% of you go several times a month (and presumably buying something at least some of those times.) I really have to salute the 2 of you that go every day to your game store: either you work there, or it’s an awesome place to hang out.
Wizards of the Coast is running a contest to design a winter Holiday-themed encounter. Without giving away what I did (I’ll share when it’s done), I ran a playtest of it on Saturday as a session of my campaign. The bad guys were fought on a wintery map, complete with thin ice to slide on and fall through. I’ve run a few adventures in wintery climes (they go hand in hand with frost giants, after all) and it does add an extra flavor above and beyond the normal temperate adventures. Heck, they even did a whole book about it.
That’s my way of using gaming to introduce this real world question:
Loading ...Justify away. And if you want to say which is your favorite to run a game in… you can do that too.
Here’s some previous winter questions, should it strike your fancy:
Creativity and the RPG Mind: Part 2, The Right Answer
Way back at the end of September, I wrote an introductory post to a new series where I would explore how creativity is expressed (or stiffed) in the RPG geek’s mind. Based on the ‘A Whack on the Side of the Head‘ by creativity Guru Roger von Oech, I wish to explore the common barriers to creativity and some tools to break them. All of this peppered with some of my own creative strategies that make my crazy mind tick.
And so we start with a huge barrier…
The Right Answer!
We are raised from infancy to seek the one correct answer to all questions and all problems we are given to solve. When you ask a young child what is the best way to alleviate a summer heat wave, they are as likely to say ‘Take an ice cream bath’ as ‘Open the doors of all freezers of the city” than “start the AC”.
As we grow older, we are actively discouraged from inventing creative answers by our parents (“don’t be silly”) and education system (“This essay, while very poetic, is still worth an F”).
As a pragmatist society, we are taught that each question has one right answer and that hard work is often needed to discover it. That molding of our thinking minds has a price, we developed a filter that discard initially irrelevant solutions while seeking right ones.
In creating RPGs material for your home games or for publication, this kind of thinking (“I must find the perfect idea!”) can completely drown creativity when you have to come up with ideas that are workable as is. Thus, you constantly discard sub-par ideas in search for the right one.
The thing is, there is no one RIGHT answer… there are a dozen. But we either ignore them… or we stop looking for them too soon.
I’m sure that many of you have had work meetings where the Suit/Project Manager/Head Honcho at the end of the table would present a problem and ask for solutions. People around the table would emm and ahh and then someone would hazard a solution… which would likely get shot down (especially if the people around the table are technical types, you know who you are!). This likely continues right until someone comes up with something that sounds halfway decent… then EVERYONE jumps on the solution and crowns it ‘Best idea of the year’ and the meeting is adjourned.
The 1st right answer is usually not the best one. In fact, having one right answer/idea is downright dangerous. You may consider your brainstorm over and push forward, with a possibly sub par idea.
In RPG terms, this often happens to me when I’m late in prepping my game. I desperately start to look for an adventure idea and I often pick a previously discarded idea (or published adventure). I then convince myself that it isn’t so bad… until I get to play it and realize that I should have worked a little harder.
There’s a Storm in my Brain
Many GMs and would be RPG writers think that ideas are hard to come by. I’m not really qualified to comment this as I often feel I’ve got the equivalent of an ideas nuclear reactor instead of a brain. However, I’m starting to believe that one of the challenges of RPG GMs is not coming up with ideas, but rather not discard them instantly (not good, not the right one, too lame, too unoriginal, missing cowbell, etc) before they had a chance to combine and create something great.
And therein lies the genius of the brainstorm.
Ideas like to aggregate, to mix, to steal from one another. This often leads to better, stronger ideas as your brain (or as a group’s collective one) associate previous silly/lame/irrelevant ideas into something workable, if not downright genius.
When I brainstorm for a D&D adventure or magazine article and I hit an idea that finally ”feels right”, I put it down on a list, like all the other ideas so far, including lame ones. I resist the temptation of stopping there and I just push onwards without judging any ideas yet. Once I run out of steam, I look at the list and pick the 2-5 ideas I like the most. Those are my Best Ideas. If, while looking at this list of ‘best’ ideas, I get new ones, I jot them down at the bottom of the list. Those are often my ‘Second Best” ideas as my thought process combines the first ones and starts making associations with other elements.
Then I usually show the list to someone else and see what ideas make them react the most. My final picks are usually from the intersection of what my ‘testers’ and myself liked best.
It really works.
The Second Best Answer
As I write this though, I realize that I may have an idea generation process that is more structured than most. That’s likely because I have had many years of experience dealing with a brain that constantly tries to get my attention with a new idea.
Brain: Pssst. How about an adventure where an Orc Santa, based on Pratchett’s Hogsfather gets killed by elves, creating a bloody war between starved Orcish mothers and the nearby Elven settlement?
Chatty: Not now, can’t you see I’m working? I’ll jot it down and look later.
Brain: You’re no fun, I liked you better when you were made of crazy.
As I was saying, if you are struggling with the “Right Answer’ Syndrome, a great exercise Roger Van Oeck proposes in his book is to push any idea generating process (i.e. brainstorming) until you reach your second best answer. At the very least, you will get another idea against which to compare your ‘right’ one, and be in a better position to judge it properly.
So next time you look for an idea for an adventure, a monster, a setting element or even a PC… make a list of ideas, fight the reflex of self-judging them (now’s not the time, we’ll talk about that soon) and push your list passed your first right idea and find the the second best idea, you’ll thank me.
So anyone stuck with Right Answer syndrome? What are you strategies to deal with it?
Critical Bits for the week ending 2009-12-12
- Chris Sims and Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens talk about the size of the gaming industry and so-called rival designers http://bit.ly/8UwZBP #
- iPhone as Helper Pixie (iPhone apps for RPGs) http://bit.ly/5vPitl #
- RT @Comixace: CHime in on DC's latest Big Two reboot — EARTH ONE http://bit.ly/8itzUD #
- I approve. http://bit.ly/4DNb2e #
- The magic items that WotC cannot publish http://bit.ly/4uNMZT #
- Free Tyr and the Mountains of Athas http://bit.ly/5CF7tD #
- RT @direflail: Minimalist drawings of videogame characters. http://bit.ly/6sj3rm #
- Open Game Table V2 is looking for nominations for exceptional RPG posts: http://is.gd/5ckRt We would appreciate nominations of our posts
# - RT @Wizards_DnD: Check out Peter Schaefer's cool idea for mixing potions in 4th Edition #dnd http://bit.ly/7kljPT #
- RT @cwgabriel: Early Christmas present for my D&D players: http://bit.ly/7fui5J #
- Review: "The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos", now with more pictures! http://bit.ly/7hjckP (repost with link) #
- There's so much to be offended about in Dragon Age, why zero in on homosexuality? http://trunc.it/3xiiz (via @revlazaro) #
- RT @WolfStar76: WotC wants YOU to create an encounter based on the Winter Holidays! Details: http://bit.ly/54Kpdy #
- RT @CzarAlex: New #4e #dnd encounter tracker is sharable by all players. FREE. Web based. iphone compatible. http://bit.ly/nIU5A #
- RT @jefftidball: FFG announces Horus Heresy, my mega-project of the last year, as designer and producer. [http://bit.ly/5c9o7z] #
- RT @fredhicks: Kenneth Hite's "Where The Deep Ones Are" as a $2 iTunes app — http://bit.ly/4tct3H #
Gears of Ruin: Creating PC-specific Clockwork Mechanics.
My new Gears of Ruin Clockwork D&D 4e campaign starts as soon as the holidays are over (with a pre-campaign session right before).
I’ve spoken a bit about what the setting would be. I’m moving away from my traditional fantasy world and creating a new one based on Clockwork Fantasy tropes (Girl Genius, Iron Kingdoms, Shawn Gaston’s Clockworks, etc) and other sources I’m shamelessly stealing from (Dune, Eberron, Myazaki’s Castle in the Sky).
One of the challenge I found myself facing was finding a way to convey clockwork fantasy without falling in typical setting design pitfalls. The first one is thinking that ‘fluff’ alone can convey your setting’s feeling to your players. If I tell everyone “okay, now magic needs Clockworks so you’re stuff is all made of clockwork” and left it at that… the players would likely forget about it and the game would veer back to a vanilla 4e campaign.
On the other hand, if I sat down and started designing rules for clockwork items and wrote pages after pages of items and powers… I’d be likely spending too much time on crunch and getting lost in the details.
And I know that many of you get easily lost in the details.
As I sat trying to figure out how to design just enough fluff and crunch to get my campaign concept off the ground, I recalled the basic trick of campaign design: Start small and grow outwards as the story unfolds. Then I recalled a 4e specific lesson: “You don’t need any mechanics for your monsters, just make up clockwork-like powers.” So I only needed new mechanics for PCs… and I didn’t need many, one should suffice to nail the feeling and we’d grow from there if needed.
The setting’s elements (AKA Fluff )
I decided to focus on one aspect of technology in my new campaign and work from there. It all started with my main ‘what-if’ questions:
What if gears could help magic like it does for moving weights in our world?
What if clockwork was used to enhance magic, bringing it up to par with the standard D&D world?
In Gears of Ruin, the ability to tap into the world’s magic has been severely limited due to the outcome of the divine/primordial war. The default assumption then is that access to powers over those of level 1 requires PCs to use clockwork ‘helpers’.
Of course, some cool exceptions will crop up, like PC s powered directly by the Elemental Chaos, but I’m getting ahead of myself .
There would be 4 types of clockwork machinery that would see use in the campaign:
- The Watch(™): An armored armband that acts as a catalyst between the character and their Arcane, Primal or Divine power source (I plan to leave Martial and Psionic out of the clockwork equation). Without it, the use of powers would be limited.
- Implements and Magic Items: Will feature little cogs and gears that channel the required magical energy to grant abilities, bonuses and powers.
- Technology and Transportation: airships, firearms (re-skinned ranged weapons) plus any gadgets I think would be cool (Flash lights, Grappling Hook guns, Para sails, etc).
The way I pictured clockwork helping magic was that each ‘machine’ would be powered by a bound elemental whose energy and link to the Elemental Chaos acts as a catalyst for the device (Thanks to David Pulver’s work on Technmomancer for the idea). I decided not to explain it any further, I had the minimum required for what I needed for my stories and mechanics.
Grinding Crunch!
As I worked out the technology fluff, I made a cardinal rule for this campaign. I would not attack/destroy any piece of equipment that would rob the PCs of their class abilities. That means that I would not destroy the watch and I won’t likely create powers that destroy clockwork magic items (unless it’s as a Rust Monster analogue).
However, as I made the rule, I had another ‘what if’…
What if the PCs could bust some of their clockwork equipment, freeing the trapped elemental in a burst of savage energy, as a last-ditch weapon?
My PC-specific mechanic was born.
Break Time!
All magic items with the clockwork keyword have an extra power:
Power (Daily); Standard Action. Make a Rule 42 attack (single/blast/ranged/area) (Normal/Limited damage) (optional: Forced Movement/Ongoing/Status effect) based on item level. Item loses all non-Enhancement powers until repaired.
I know this makes little sense but it’s my personal template for all improvised attacks. I usually start with an attack with a single target, dealing high Limited-Damage (See page 42 of the DMG) using the items’ level to determine damage. I then adjudicate damage based on what the player wants to do. Increasing range, number of targets and adding effects to the attack lead to lower damage.
For example, if a player wanted to cause a blast 3 of cold damage that slowed targets, I would probably use low or medium normal damage expression and I would also likely make the attack vs Reflex, using the PCs’ attack bonus.
Rule 42 is my friend!
If this rule is too confusing, have a look at page page 7 of The Plane Below when it comes out. That’s another example of improvised elemental attack.
Oh and the party would have a mechanic that would repair broken items at each extended rest. Depending on the type of campaign the player and I settle upon, I may put a price on repairs or I may assume that they always have the required resources to do it.
So, do you think this mechanic is going to fly? Do you have other ideas for a cool 4e Clockwork game (I’m not calling it steampunk because there will be very little steam)
Review: "The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos"
The Plane Below is the first of several 4th Edition D&D books that delve into a bit more detail on specific planes and the kinds of adventures that can be found within them. As the title indicates, this one focuses on the Elemental Chaos and everything pertaining to it. This book is packed full of content, from cover to cover, and unless your game has absolutely nothing to do with the chaotic plane below you will want to give it a look. If your game strongly favors demons, elementals, the city of brass, or githzerai then this book is a must have.
The Plane Below is about 160 pages deep and contains just under 50 new types of monsters for you to throw at adventurers to murder and startle them. The book is very clearly, and logically, organized starting with the general features of the Elemental Chaos including at-will rules for mentally influencing the plane’s instability to attack creatures with motes of earth or fiery energy. This section reads exactly like the Elemental Chaos chapter from the Manual of the Planes but magnified by four, including various vehicles used to travel the plane from other sources and a few new ones, various weather effects, fantastical terrain features like acidic mires and flowing rivers of earth, and a handful of new hazards that can be found on the plane below. Next the chapter presents a handful of new skill challenges such as how to bargain with an efreet, reasoning with a Slaad (it’s not easy!), and repairing a lightning skiff.
My favorite part of all of the 4E supplemental books has been the Campaign Arcs section where ideas are presented that take you from the heroic tier through paragon and finishing in epic, nearly every single one I read gives me a handful of new ideas to apply to my own game. This book is no exception, presenting a variety of arcs to include elemental creatures and even one that focuses on planar characters that start their adventuring lives in the Elemental Chaos. Next they present a handful of varying level adventure ideas building on the same themes as the campaign arcs. Several potential patron NPCs are detailed as well as some “Orders out of Chaos” like the Cult of the Elemental Eye which are just as interesting to me as the full campaign arcs because they provide lore the players can learn, information just for the DM, organization of the orders, history, goals and methods, and adventure ideas for each of the groups. The chapter ends with three new artifacts for paragon and epic characters that can bring even more elemental themes into your game and directly into a player’s hands. [Read the rest of this article]
Chatty’s Ptolus 4e Demo: A Tail of Two Shities, Part 3
See part 1 here and part 2 here.
Rat and Roll!
After the PCs rested for a few minutes, they continued deeper in the complex of caves and crypts. They eventually found the fleeing rats and followed their light to a large chamber. As they approached, they heard a rumbling sound, like stone rubbing on stone. Right before they entered the last room, they saw a huge spherical boulder roll pass them, pushed by a very large Ratling who paid them no attention.
The PCs entered the large rectangular room. It sported multiple platforms around its periphery as well as a large one in the middle (actually a Bunker with ‘roof’ access). The room had some sort of donut shape around which the Rat Ogre pushed the boulder. This wasn’t all that evident to the players as they entered the room and split, going on both sides of the ‘track”.
As the PC entered, 3 Gunners climbed on the central platform and started shooting at them. Behind the gunners, on another platform, a sinister goggled Ratling, yielding a huge weapon made of a nozzle and a large tank strapped to its back, started fiddling with the weapon’s controls.
Player #1: Oh look, he’s got a Rat Shit Sprayer!
Player #2: A Poop blaster!
Avenger: A Chaos Thrower!
Chatty: Sigh…
They also noticed that the Rat Ogre had an antenna (Avenger: An antenna of Chaos!) sticking out of its head. The seemed to solely focus on pushing the boulder around the room.
Given how tired everyone was, I was impressed at how swiftly they played that last fight. The main highlights were:
The Avenger ran behind the Ogre and asked if he could grab onto the antenna and yank it out.
Chatty: Sure, You would grab the Rat Ogre first and on your next turn you could do an attack against it’s fortitude defense to yank the antenna off.
WalkerP: Cool!
Chatty: However, its seems to be compelled to only push the boulder and ignore everything else, are you sure you want to pull the antenna off?
WalkerP: Hmmm, no, I’ll pass.
The Warlord ran around the “circuit” and ended his turn in a narrow part right before the Rat Ogre pushed the Boulder toward him. When he did, the boulder ended right on the Warlord, crushing him twice with the “trap’s” attack.
WalkerP: I can’t believe you walked right into that one!
Midnight: Shut up!
Rover’s dwarf fighter ran to the flamespewer Ratling and ate a gob of burning stuff (don’t ask) in the chest (taking fire damage over the for the next 3 or 4 rounds) before getting hit by another blast of fire that pushed him back down the platform. Fortunately, he saved and dropped prone. He managed to rapidly kill the monster (I love artillery monsters, high damage, low HP).
That’s when the Rat Ogre woke up!
At this point, the elven Avenger moved behind the giant Ratling and struck him in the back.
Then I had a flash.
What if the Rat Ogre, in a fit of rage, picked up the boulder, tendons and muscle popping, and crushed that pesky elf stabbing him?
Remember in part 1 where I said to the avenger “(…)I reserve the right to do something horrible to your PC later”?
Well now was the occasion. I made a Str attack against the Avenger’s Reflex defense and described what my mind’s eye saw a few minutes earlier. The Rat Ogre hit, dealing High Limited Damage (3d8+3) according to Rule 42.
WalkerP: Ack, my PC is at -6!
Midnight: See, it’s not so much that you’re a Chatty DM, but that you’re a scary one!
Chatty (bowing): I accept the compliment!
At that point, I had all remaining gunners dive for cover in the middle bunker (I wanted to shorten the fight) and we focused on the party fighting the Elite Rat Ogre. Throughout the rest of the fight, I would humorously describe how the Ratling Gunners periodically discharged their guns at the bunker’s door because of a loud noise, much to the laughter of the players.
Eladrin Wizard: Guys, we may let you live but we’re talking your tails all the same.
(Gunfire)
The fight was over rapidly enough, with no PC death. It was passed midnight, everyone seemed to have fun. White Wolf, the player controlling Eladrin Wizard, had horrible luck all evening long and missed with all his non At-will powers. However, he did a lot of damage with Magic Missile and managed to drop the Rat Ogre, so he enjoyed the game too.
All in all, a great 4e game session where ‘Say Yes’, the Rule of Cool and “Shit Happens” ruled the evening.
I may recycle this adventure for con games. It fits perfectly in a 4 hour slot.
Lessons Learned
- Be flexible, make sure your adventure can be changed to fit different game styles. It’s not that hard to do.
- If something is cool, always give it a chance to succeed.
- If a crazy idea pops in your head that does not completely screw over your players, go for it!
- Apparently, adding poop to a role playing adventure makes it better… cross-fertilization perhaps?
And now for those who were patient enough to follow the whole thing, here is a bonus gift!
Chatty’s Ptolus 4e Demo: A Tail of Two Shities, Part 2
See part 1 here.
Of Kobolds and Rats
As I mentioned in my pre-game post, the actual ‘dungeon’ of the adventure was a modified version of the Dungeon Master Guide’s ‘Kobold Hall’. In fact, I took Area 1, 3 and 4 and modified them to my needs. All kobolds became ratlings and I added a few other “ratty” monsters to complete the feel.
In the first room, the PCs met a group of ratlings who had recently finished dumping dwarven sarcophagi in a pit filled with bubbling green goop. (much to the disgust of the players, yay!)
As the PCs arrived, they saw a lone ratling standing behind the pit, lugging a large harpoon gun covered with tubes and strange flanges.
Elf Avenger: A device covered with tubes? It is a piece of Chaos!
(WalkerP cracks me up, he’s a calm, very stoic player, but he throws these character one-liners that are often priceless)
The fight started and the players started experimenting with their powers. The Harpoon gun was shot but missed (bummer… it would have pulled PCs into the goop). As the fight progressed, I showed various ways for each PC to be more effective: delay an action, use an area attack on a swarm, flanking, etc.
At one point, a Ratling Gunner (using a firearm made of junked pieces of other guns) shot the fighter in the face.
Chatty: Okay after the sting wears off, you find yourself covered in brown, exceedingly smelly goop…
Fighter: Ah Shit!
And thus was the shit gun introduced to the game. It set the tone for the rest of the evening and I experienced all the English poop jokes that could be made. That one design decision made the whole game lighthearted and help players focus on other things than combat numbers.
The fight was rapidly over and the players had their first short rest. After resting, they explored the room for treasure (other than then Harpoon Chaos and Poop Guns). I decided to grant them a magic item so I randomly rolled a character and came up with the Dwarven Warlord.
Picking up the Player’s Handbook and flipping to the Magic Item section, I looked at level 1 armours (Canadian spelling FTW) and picked ‘Dwarven Armor”.
Chatty: Midnight, what armour type does your PC wear?
Midnight: Hmmm… chain.
Chatty: Wow, what an incredible coincidence! That’s what you find!
Midnight and Rover: Of course!
Then followed a great piece of micro-storytelling.
Chatty: So guys, what is your PC stance on taking items from defiled dwarven tombs?
Midnight: Well, Dwarves are nothing if not practical…
Rover: Yeah, I mean the tomb has already been defiled, the ancestors would want this sacrilege punished, with all the help the avengers can get!
Both built such a convincing story, so similar to the one I would have told them if they had rolled a successful skill check, that I granted both a bonus action point.
The party moved on to the second room. This room featured another pit of goop flanked by four sarcophagi and a set of double door behind the pit. Two 10′ high platforms flanked the doors.
On each platform stood some Ratling Gunners and Younglings. The Gunners were loading their guns with Fireshots and Gunkers (I just renamed the Kobold Slinger special ammo). The Younglings were throwing a tethered spiked metal ball across the room, trying to knock dwarven skulls off the sarcophagi.
This fight had 2 very interesting highlights. The first one was when the Avenger climbed onto a sarcophagus and readied an action to “catch the rope on its next pass”. When the ball came back, it struck him real hard. Now had I been playing it by the rules, he’d have been pushed 3 by the ball (as the trap is written) before he got to do his readied action.
However, this is where the whole ‘being the DM’ kicks in. I found the concept of the elven Avenger playing Tarzan so cool that I wanted to give WalkerP a chance to succeed. So after he took the damage, I told him to roll (an attack or a Dex check, I forget) to catch on the ball before being pushed away by it. He made the roll and I moved his PC right up the platform where a gunner and 2 ratling minions were.
So…freakin’ cool.
Later in the scene, Rover’s fighter tried to jump/climb the 10′ platform and failed, ending his turn at its base. In the same turn, the Warlord wanted to try the same thing, so I suggested he uses his Dwarven colleague to boost himself (using the fighter as a 5′ high stair, allowing him to get on the platform without a climb check). I decided so because I judged that the fighter had already paid with his failure and that the wall had played it’s obstacle role enough in that fight. That’s also why I allowed the fighter to climb, helped by the warlord, without a roll on his next turn.
Both events contributed at accelerating the fight because it brought the melee PCs to bear on the monsters faster.
Oh, also worthy of note, the Sleep spell SUCKS in some circumstances! I know that knocking monsters out in one shot would break Elite and Solo encounters, but having lvl 1 humanoid artilleries and minions have to miss a save to drop unconscious is really bad.
The fight was concluded rapidly, 2 Younglings, a Gunner and a Dire Rat were killed. The rest ran deeper into the tunnel/tomb complex.
Chatty: Okay guys, it’s 10h30PM and I can see oi your faces that you’re getting tired so we can wrap it up here.
White Wolf: Oh, don’t mind our yawning, it’s on par for our Friday Night games.
Midnight: Yeah, we can continue no problem.
Chatty (surprised): Cool! Thank god I prepared the next area right before you guys showed up.
And so our adventurers set out for the final chamber…
Up next: I love Rat Ogres!
