The Plot Kill
Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation.
– Wheel Of Time Series, Prophecy of the Dragon.
In the ongoing debate of killing of PCs and total party kills, one aspect of PC death is often left out: The Plot Kill. Having turned Plot Kills into defining campaign moments and having received some memorable Plot Kills myself, I think the concept warrants discussion.
First, to define Plot Kill: situations in which the DM plans for a PC death and executes either with or without mechanics. Examples could be playing out a “Last Stand” against a never ending horde of minions (played out to see how long the other characters actually have to make an escape) or requiring a PC to sacrifice himself to contain the essence of a mad god (no roll required). In this article I am going to discuss the guidelines of planning a Plot Kill, advise DMs on how to handle these occasions, and make a case to DMs for turning EVERY PC death into a Plot Kill. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Campaigning: Literature and Adventure Planning
Despite stereotypes that say otherwise, gaming groups are not monolithic in their cultural consumption. Most groups have a few shared interests (anime, sci-fi movies, etc.) and a few niche interests (history, literature, comics, etc.) This can readily be used to your advantage. This is where I’m most likely to borrow (rip off) ideas directly from books, film, and television. My Running Man-inspired adventures ended up being such a hit that they are demanded in literally every game I run. Players can’t get enough of facing off against Buzzsaw, Dynamo, and Sub Zero re-imagined over and over again.
However, much of gamer culture is shared and it’s not very interesting to rip something off that everyone instantly recognizes and inevitably metagames for. That’s where literature comes in. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Campaigning: XIX Getting My Hands Dirty
Last week I dealt with brainstorming for my military-based high fatality huge party epic campaign. This week, I’m going to elaborate on a few of the underlying concepts for the campaign. What follows are my preliminary rules/fluff for the game, subject to further consideration and reader feedback.
A Word on Magic: In my game world (this is in fact a MASSIVE prequel to the games my friends have been playing in since the seventh grade) I’ve held to a simple rule regarding magic and new spells: unusual circumstances allow for more powerful magic. It sets a tone for magic, in that if an NPC wants to use a spell to cause the apocalypse it’s going to have some steep requirements, such as the souls of thousands of innocents or a unique astrological event. In the past, PCs rarely have performed this kind of plot magic, though I’m not opposed to the idea. However, it colors the effects of the Magical Prophecy that fuels a bit of the plot and acts as an implicit promise that I won’t just massively overhaul the world with a huge spell out of nowhere.
The Prophecy: Although the first adventure is still coalescing, the background to the game is coming along nicely. Essentially, only nineteen small villages remain in the wake of a cataclysmic attack by the marauding “Fesh” on legendary city of Aurum. A preliminary report has the surviving attackers numbering 1900 “profanes” (i.e. Monsters). Each of the 19 Village Elders are accomplished spell casters. They assess realize the only thing they have to hang their magical hat on is the 19 numerology. True, it’s a bit of a stretch of fortune, but it’s coincidental enough to not be truly logic-defying. They craft an incantation-turned-prophecy to buy time and hope that there magic is strong enough. Their intention is to create a barrier to save their villages, the rest of their prophecy represents more of a wish list, initially. As it turns out, their blood sacrifice and the “19″ numerology turns out to have enough power that the prophecy becomes an entity of itself, assisting the villagers and their champions (the PCs). Without further adieu, the Prophecy in question:
The XIX Prophecy
On the Eve of the Birth
Of the 190,000th
Heroes Emerge from Scorched Earth
Of the Number Nineteen
Each path eldritch or Mundane
Answer to slaughter against their Name
Nineteen Towns the soul Survivors
Blood of the First Born
Barrier ‘gainst threats most Dire
Solace to those battle Torn
Nineteen Months it Shall Stand
Nineteen Heroes in a Fallen Land
Nineteen towns soon to Fade
Nineteen Harmonies to Aid
Heroes that would Fight
Against Fesh and its Blight
To Save the tattered Remains
Or else be reduced to Chains
By Nineteen Hundred Profanes
Design Objectives for the Nineteen Harmonies: Fluff-wise the Harmonies are 19 boons for the players when they select specific groups of characters for a mission. My goal was to make unusual adventuring groups viable, reward synergistic party relationships, and address some likely deficiencies typical adventuring parties would have in a military setting. Moreover, I wanted to give each “family” of Harmonies a distinct flavor, reward unusual composition, and encourage the use a diverse set of characters in the campaign. Each Harmony is activated based on a four man party, which means others can tag along and mooch so long as four characters achieve a Harmony. As such, there need not be any ‘balance’ between these Harmonies, they just need to be interesting enough that PCs want to use them and not so good as to totally make the party overpowering.
The Nineteen Harmonies: Successful use of a harmony on an adventure awards 250XP per Tier and 500 GP (possibly scaled each tier) to each character in the campaign.
- Martial Squad: (Four Martial Classes)
- 1/Enc: Each Member may reroll damage
- Arcane Squad: (Four Arcane Classes)
- Resist: 5 Energy Type of Choice (stacks with previous resistance)
- Primal Squad: (Four Primal Classes)
- Ignore Difficult Natural Terrain For Movement Purposes
- Divine Squad: (Four Divine Classes)
- +3 HP on any healing
- Power in Diversity: (Four Different Power Sources)
- Each PC: +1 to Defense of Choice
- Defender Squad: (Four Defender Classes)
- 1/Enc: Party chooses Hunter’s Quarry or Sneak Attack at the start of any encounter.
- 1/Turn: One teammate a turn may use chosen ability.
- Leader Squad: (Four Leader Classes)
- 1/Turn: Team Member may Mark a Monster he attacks.
- Striker Squad: (Four Striker Classes)
- 1/Turn: Team Member May Use Second Wind as Move Action
- Controller Squad: (Three Controller Classes)
- 1/Turn: Team Member May Shift as a Minor Action
- Balanced Team: (All Four Class Roles)
- 1/Turn: One character may treat an encounter power as reliable.
- Language Bound: (Shared Non-Common Language Speakers)
- Special “Battle Tongue” that none outside the party can understand
- Diversity Team: (Four Different Race Types)
- Ability to understand all language w/ minor action concentration
- Pure Blood: (Groups Apply to #12)
- All Racial Encounter Powers may be swapped with the owner’s permission (still only apply 1/Enc. Total). In the case of humans, simply replicate either Half Dilettante or Half Orc power.
- Human: Human, Half Elf, Half Orc
- Fey: Elf, Eladrin, Gnome, Dark Elf
- Rock: Dwarf, Goliath
- Planar: Genasai, Deva, Tiefling
- Misfits: Halfling, Shifter, Dragonborn
- All Racial Encounter Powers may be swapped with the owner’s permission (still only apply 1/Enc. Total). In the case of humans, simply replicate either Half Dilettante or Half Orc power.
- Light Foot Squad: (No Armor Above Light)
- +Gain temporary training in Hide or Perception. If already trained, choose a +2 bonus to one.
- Heavy Metal: (All Medium or Above)
- Ignore (-1) Armor Check
- Martial Prowess: (All Martial Weapons)
- +1 AC to all Party
- Simple Soldiers (No Martial Weapons)
- +1 To Hit to all Party
- Magicked Up: (All Party Members Have Magic Items)
- Should any magic item be lost, any PC can make an Arcana Check (DC: Magic Item Level + 10) to discern its location.
- No Magic: (No Party Members Have Magic Items; only applies to characters without magic items)
- Each PC may choose to give one stat a +6 Enhancement bonus for the adventure.
Conclusion: So, there you have it, a pretty extensive post previewing the underlying concepts of my game. The Prophecy is serviceable and it rhymes, but I never particularly like my own poetry. Some of the Harmonies don’t seem quite right to me yet (particularly #10), and there’s definitely room to approve some of the wording, but overall I’m very satisfied with my progress.
Pain of Campaigning: Actually Planning
After a long hiatus of actively DMing, I was roused from my gaming slumber. The results are a bit unusual and probably not going to be to everyone’s liking, but after droves and droves of articles detailing how to run games, I figure I’d do an article of my current work in progress: XIX.
The strange confluence of events inspired my current D&D project
- My impending departure from Miami and return to Maryland would put me in an area ripe with players in friends interested in RPGs.
- The release of the PHB 2 (and some of the grousing about “too many options”) made me consider a way to let people get a flavor of it all.
- My own article, and Original Sultan’s comments supporting my “War is Hell” flavored D&D campaign caused me to consider a fun way to have high fatality games.
- The strange convergence that unwittingly occurred between a long gestating fiction project and my first ideas for this game.
I decided I wanted to have a game where characters died (and over the course of the game a lot would die,) not through my own mean-spirited intent to kill, but through insane difficulty and the need to sacrifice lives for military objectives. So, I decided I would make a game where there were a preset number of characters, far outstripping the number of players, but I had trouble initially settling on a number and method of deciding the composition of a party of characters, but not necessarily full-time PLAYER characters. Then, in struck me, why not just have one of each class? Hence, I came up with the idea for eighteen characters (PHB 1 & 2 + Artificer + Swordmage) , but quickly remembered (thanks to The Game) the impending release of the Monk. Hence, 19 characters… or the much cooler campaign slogan: XIX.
Sensing that XIX could be a ready-made theme I decided to just have be important to well… everything. I had already decided on a military-based theme and figured “why not have the party have the unfortunate task of dealing with a large force of varied power, numbering precisely 1900 monsters?” (Imagine a Battlestar Galactica-like opening scene at the start of each adventure with the total enemies remaining). And why not have them defending 19 hapless towns? At this point, having overcome a few initial intellectual hurdles, I had a few logistical problems crop up.
Problems
- I needed a “timer” to force the characters to actually do something against the horde of monsters (or “Profanes” as I later flavored them). It couldn’t be so arbitrary that the players felt like they’d lose on a whim, but there had to have some flexibility so I could move the game along.
- I needed a reason why some CR 25 baddy wouldn’t just waltz in and slaughter the characters at first level.
- I needed a way to succinctly hand out information on the setting and foreshadow some of the events to come.
- A reason to avoid the Video Game RPG pitfall of neglecting fully half of playable characters in favor of leveling up favored characters.
- Satisfying the people that LIKED having their own character without undermining the whole point of the “massive team.” Also, making sure I didn’t have to level up 19 freaking characters.
Solutions
I wrapped up Problems #1 and #2 with a neat little bow: a magical barrier of blood powered by the poor frail Elders from the 19 towns. Those very same barriers will only survive 19 months (shocking, huh?) and would degrade, only recognizing more and more serious threats as time passed. The PCs would also have to consider those poor old folks, as keeping the barrier up would eventually cost those noble oldsters their lives. I envisioned instances where the Players would take on a mission, leave some other characters at home base, only to have a bunch of “leftovers” from earlier missions storm into their once-safe territory.
For problem #3, I quickly settled on creating a prophecy. With my own fetishistic obsessions with the number 19 in this game, a prophecy revolving around the number seemed like an easy fix, provided I could write one that didn’t make me gag (I’m not fond of my poetry skills).
Problem #4′s solution came to me from its source: video games. Games like Chrono Trigger and X Men: Legends incentivized using certain characters together. Continuing my number 19 obsession, I whipped up 19 different combinations of character types that would unlock specific advantages (later dubbed The 19 Harmonies) for the party usable in every encounter. Moreover, successful “unlocking” a Harmony would result in EVERY character getting XP and the award of yet-to-be-defined prophetic bonuses/resources (something along the lines of plot magic). I decided to tie this in with the aforementioned prophecy, making the Prophecy/Ritual of the Elders become a force unto itself, willing the PCs to win against their seemingly insurmountable odds.
Problem #5 resulted in a compromise. I decided that each player could designate a “Primary” character that was reserved for them to use when they showed up and acted as their default persona for role playing between missions. I intended to farm out the character leveling process to interested players anyway. This “Primary” rule guaranteed that I wasn’t stuck acting as custodian for the whole stable of characters. So, at least one character per player would be their responsibility, with the option of players taking on a whole “team”, with the understanding only one could be their primary character.
Conclusions
There you have it, my background planning for my D&D game. If interest on the subject is high I’ll actually post the XIX Prophecy and the XIX Harmonies I’ve created.
Pain of Campaigning VIII: What About the Bad Guys?
Intro: Looking at the Campaigning Inquisition, I saw that the vast majority of people favor heroic or at least characters that have the potential to be heroes. Considering the nature of the D&D beast, this makes sense, but I worry that people may be hesitant to try one of the most enjoyable modes of D&D: playing as one of the bad guys. My favorite D&D game of all time had us play demon-summoning, undead-raising, townsfolk-terrorizing evil sons of bitches waging war on civilization; until my character betrayed the party when he realized ruling over an empire of uncivilized barbarians would be completely unacceptable. This article is going to give some tips on how to organize and maintain an evil party, how to make enjoyable for players that may be leery of the idea, and how to make it enjoyable for you even if you have reservations about such a game as a DM.
Maintaining & Organizing Play: The first problem people have with an evil party is keeping it together and focused. Rather than abiding moral sense to help people you have a group of pricks and selfish jerks. So, you have to have a hook that keeps the party together and you have to make it clear that it’s necessary during character creation. Some good hooks involve the need to overthrow a sickening empire of good, an even more evil apocalyptic power seeking to destroy the very world that the PCs would dominate, or a simple case of necessity where law enforcement, good religious groups, or polities are going to hunt them down one by one. Either way, make it clear and firm that these motivations are required AT THE START.
Winning over the Dubious Player: Some of your players may have understandable reservations about hanging up their hero boots and switching sides to the villains. First off, just because a character is evil doesn’t mean they have to contemptible murderers. You could play an honorable, but brutal, warrior or a otherwise selfish spell caster that’s looking out for his family. Alternatively, some parties have the resident bad guy that works with the heroes: a character could be the opposite: the good guy that finds himself amongst cutthroats and bastards because of circumstances. Or a character could be the mole or spy, but this time a spy for the good guys. Its important to realize that just because the party may have selfish/evil goals doesn’t mean each PC has to be that way.
Winning over the Dubious DM Inside You: The idea of having a bunch of bastards scheme, connive, murder, and rampage through your campaign world may not win you over at first, however there are a lot positives. First, there’s something morbidly amusing about watching PCs deal with normal legal authorities and going totally against the grain. Secondly, as big, bad and evil as the villains are that you’ve created, you’ve never seen anything compared to the scheming of a group of PCs. The plans they execute and the things that truly ‘evil’ characters come up with can be pretty mind blowing. Which leads me to my final point that the long term can fully appreciate. When its all said and done, and the baddest, most despicable PCs have built their empire of evil you have something great: a ready made second campaign. Imagine the horror of your players when they’re forced to retire their magnificent bastards and be the poor group of souls that have to figure out a way of BEATING them…
The Pain of Campaigning I: Story and Pre-Game Decisions
The Pain of Campaigning II: Starting the Game
The Pain of Campaigning III: The Plot Thickens
The Pain of Campaigning IV: Put a Little Politics In It
The Pain of Campaigning V: Suitable Villains
The Pain of Campaigning VI: Give Your Villains Some Panache!
The Pain of Campaigning VII: The Finale (Part 1: What You Want the Adventure to be)
The Pain of Campaigning VIII: What About the Bad Guys?
The Pain of Campaigning IV: Put a Little Politics in it
This is a rerun. It originally ran May 14th, 2008.
One of the hallmarks of my DMing style is the political element. My games tend to focus on character development and overarching story, with combats serving to accentuate those aspects. One of the key fuels for this kind of game are nations, kings, countries and gods all jockeying for position. It is crucial in this style of game to involve the players in the details without overshadowing them. This can be challenging at times: how do you make 1st level characters jockey for importance with high priests? The answer is complicated, but rewarding. I’ve listed some tips below.
1. Figure out the Political Climate: You need to know what exactly the politics ARE before you put the PCs into the thick of it. This seems simple, but it warrants mentioning. Are nation-states gearing up for war? Is an evil force infiltrating the government? These are questions you must answer, both on the nitty-gritty (who are the opposing force and their leaders) and the general (is this a good-evil conflict, shades of grey, and do you care where the PCs fall in the whole affair?) If you’re stumped, pick your favorite period of history and twist it around. I’ve run games that started as the New World Age of Discovery, World War I, World War 2, and filed the serial numbers off. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Campaigning VII: The Finale (Part I: What You Want the Adventure to be)
Well, if you’re reading this with a finale on the horizon, first, let me say: Congratulations! I can honestly say that amongst the best DMs I know that the prospect of actually having a campaign reaching a conclusion, rather than dying out, is no greater than 50%… and that’s a generous estimate. Personally, my latest endeavor (online) died after a single adventure due to lack of player availability (sniff, sniff). Even so, the lows of failed campaigns ought to be used to crystallize in your mind the potential awesomeness of a good finale. So, without further adieu, we dive right in! [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Campaigning VI: Give Your Villains Some Panache!
Well, it had to happen. The Main Event has begun to plan his first 4E game (and speak in third person!) So now, with a campaign fresh on the brain, I’ll continue my last villains article and talk about how to make your villain(s), regardless of type, formidable, awesome and dastardly.
They Have a Plan: Make sure your main villains are every bit as logical as your heroes. As much as Prince Lotor from Voltron made me chuckle, his ‘evil for the sake of evil’ bit always struck me as strange. Sure, it is evil to bring about the death of all sentient life, but maybe Mr. Villain thinks he can fix life and make it better, or that it would result in less suffering and he has a logical way of doing that. Keep in mind, logic in this context can include magic and other zaniness.
Trademark: Give your villain some tick, some symbol, some catchphrase, some thing that announces his presence. Make the PCs’ blood boil when they realize a seemingly tangential side quest was in actuality a clever ruse by the villain or that was actually part of his master plan. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Campaigning V: Suitable Villains
So, let’s see, you have pre-planned your campaign, started it out with a bang, managed to balance a bunch of squabbling players interests in the game and even dared to put politics into it. Sounds like a great game, huh? Job’s over?
Wrong.
A recurring villain is one of the simplest ways to increase the excitement of a game and give it lasting consequences. There’s a lot of thought that can go into choosing a proper villain and this article is going to focus on that: making a villain that works for your PCs. In the future, I will discuss dos and don’ts for making the villain you selected into a formidable, challenging adversary without burning the PCs out. First thing, however, is selecting what kind of villain to use. [Read the rest of this article]
The Pain of Campaigning III: The Plot Thickens
So, assuming you’ve considered pre-campaign decisions and successfully started your game its now time to keep running a campaign. Not just treading water, but also have it be interesting, engaging, and fun. Maintaining interest, engagement, and enjoyment from all players and a DM can be incredibly difficult, but here are some of the most common problems that can interfere with these positive aspects.
Character Involvement in the Story
There is something going on in your campaign, whether it’s the first part of a 13 part epic or your PCs have cleared out a goblin warren or an orc encampment, but the question is how much do these events continue impacting PCs. Most players enjoy the feeling that their characters actions send out reverberations through the campaign world. So, even if your planned arch-nemesis twin brother is at least five adventures from even being alluded to, maybe that disgraced mayor that slunk away should become the righteous paladin’s rival for the time being. On the other side of the spectrum, maybe you just plan on running another module out of the Forgotten Realms, but a pesky goblin shaman actually rolled a stabilization check in the last encounter. Rather than just forgot about the little guy, even if the PCs groan when he makes himself an annoyance again, the continued co-evolution of the campaign world and the PCs makes the players interested in considering the repercussions of their actions and makes for a more engaging set of decisions. Ultimately, whether your story is fast, loose, and barely planned or methodical and plotted your campaign will benefit from having the PCs characters see consequences from their previous actions. [Read the rest of this article]
