Magic 2011 Core Set Preview
The new core set for Magic: The Gathering (M11) is set to release in just over a week, and we’ve received a few preview cards just like we did with the previous set Rise of the Eldrazi. I am currently an extremely casual M:tG player and seeing the new sets that come out usually means two things for me, the first is that my friends and I will most likely try to plan a booster draft in the coming weeks and the second is that I absolutely love seeing how the game has changed since I started playing it. I got into the game right at the release of 4th Edition, which is not all that early to most M:tG players but to me it was when the game hit the mainstream and flew directly onto my nerd-radar.
The core sets have changed quite a bit over the years, but I was quite happy in the more recent sets to see some of the old classics being brought back. My very first constructed deck was a green elf & big monster deck, and seeing cards like Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves still in print generates a specific kind of nostalgia that is hard to get in other places. With that in mind, I’m very excited to see what will be in M11 and what the set as a whole looks like.
Here is some of the basic information about the M11 set:
Set Name Magic 2011
Abbreviation M11
Number of Cards 249
Prerelease Date July 10-11, 2010
Release Date July 16, 2010
Launch Party July 16-18, 2010
Game Day August 14, 2010
Here are the preview cards:
Mailbag 8—All By Myself, Part 5
This final piece is all about the competition for your solos—the players and their characters. You design encounters to challenge those others at your game table, so almost all of this series has really been about them anyway. Rather than the mechanics of making and using solo creatures, this section focuses on engaging players, and keeping them that way, and allowing characters to shine against a solo.
You probably already know it, but if you’re a good DM, you’re probably having the most fun when the players are enjoying what you’ve created. That’s one reason why DMing is so great. You are able to work on and take pleasure from both sides of the game’s interactions. Hopefully, some of the stuff here helps you do that better.
Informed Opposition
The characters have to earn their glory. It’s true. You’ve created a dynamic scenario for the monsters, but you need to make sure the scenario and encounter have elements that make them the most fun for the players. Make sure the players have the opportunity to play creatively.
An informed player is best suited for fun and success. You need not just give the information away if play demands otherwise. The truth is, though, that stumbling into the dragon’s lair is a lot less fun than anticipating the terrible battle bound to occur there. Running into any solo unexpectedly can leave players at loose ends, and the characters might suffer for it. Then your game will suffer, too.
The players also need the skinny on the environment. Your description of the surroundings is more than an imparting of setting detail. It should always hint at, if not directly convey, what’s possible in the area. What casual observation fails to reveal, judicious skill use should. If you want the characters to interact with some part of the location, don’t hide the information about that encounter element behind a hard skill check DC. In fact, if you want to be sure it’s used, don’t hide it at all. It’s okay to give away some information for the sake of fun. Besides, our characters are way more competent than we are. Just ask my characters. They’ll tell you.
It’s hard not to bow to the feeling that players should earn the lore they and their characters learn, but I’ve seen more than one encounter go off the rails because the DM wasn’t clear or hid needed details behind a bogus skill check. If player knowledge of the situation is important, but the player’s fail to ask for that necessary skill check, let the characters suffer only for a little while. Then do the hard part. Ask for the check. It’s okay to lead a little. Again with character competence.
Once combat is joined, the players need to know how the battle is progressing. Be explicit about state changes in the monster and alterations to the environment. Ask for checks or use passive skill checks when the characters might or might not notice a change. Be descriptive and informative about how the monster uses powers, and why certain results occur. If you catch signs that the players don’t really understand what’s happening fully, make sure they grasp what you think is essential and that the characters should know. Repeat yourself if necessary. You’re doing everyone a favor, believe me.
That’s because knowing the situation is central to the players’ ability to make informed decisions. A dynamic encounter demands that players change character tactics based on what they know or learn. Solo encounters should be among the most dynamic in design, since the monster doesn’t always provide the needed dynamism. If the monster does, then all the better.
Providing Tools
Information and its exchange are the primary tools in a cooperative game such as D&D, but we’ve talked about those. Environmental elements, skill uses and challenges, and calculated advantages can help the characters out and liven up a solo encounter. Give the characters cool toys.
Add terrain effects and terrain powers that the characters can use to gain an advantage. One such environmental power might even be a deal changer in the battle. Think about how Conan dealt with larger, stronger creatures or how Wulfgar finally slew the white wyrm Ingeloakastimizilian (Icingdeath). The ability to drop a huge stalactite on a dragon can be a cool event in the fight, especially if the characters discover the option when their normal resources are dwindling. The dragon might even make such a choice available after it uses a terrain power to cause a minor cave-in during a state change or pacing change in the confrontation.
When it comes to skills, not only should you let players use checks to gain advantages in a combat, but you should also encourage it. Little boons—from hidden clues garnered through shrewd use of knowledge skills to unexpected benefits gained by boldly seizing good terrain with physical skills—are the spice of a tactical game. To me, the game is a fantasy action movie slowed down into digestible gaming bits. Such bits even tastier when they allow a character to accomplish action-hero tasks or one-up the badass monster.
Skill challenges, especially those that can help mitigate a state change in the solo monster or an advantage the monster has, are doubly useful. They can give an encounter pizzazz, as well as adding to the challenge. Maybe those versed in Arcana, Nature, or Religion can work to unravel the field of unfathomable geometry defending that Far Realm entity (Thoon!), while those with Insight and Endurance can ignore the worst effects for a while.
When you use skills, I recommend taking a page from D&D editor Greg Bilsland’s blog. Try to keep the action cost low, allowing checks with minor actions. Limit each character’s check to once per turn if extending the tension is an issue. Standard-action checks should have effects at least as significant on the encounter as a hit with an at-will power. I say that such willingness on a player’s part to break out of a normal combat mode should be more rewarding. Giving up a standard action can extend the fight, but if you make the effects of that standard action worthwhile, the player should feel it. Solo fights need no help in the length department.
If the battle starts to drag, and the characters are down to at-will attack powers, be brave. Employ the next big disengagement as an excuse to allow a brief short rest that allows the characters to regain the use of some or all their encounter powers. (Greg Bilsland also points out how the time for a short rest is ambiguous. Use that for added excitement.) It might be okay for the monster to recover a little, as well, but that’s a decision you have to make on the fly while eyeballing the encounter’s pacing. Err on the side of allowing the monster to recharge some interesting powers during the pause, rather than allowing healing. If you do allow healing, give the monster back what a normal monster might regain from the use of a healing surge—do not give it back a quarter of its solo hit points or, gods forbid, more.
Acting in Good Faith
You need to avoid a few potential pitfalls when designing and playing out an encounter with a solo monster. Use certain conditions judiciously, play dramatically even if that diminishes optimum monster performance, and steer clear of thwarting the characters too much. These mistakes can grind the encounter to a messy end even if the characters win.
When I design encounters, I shun what I call one-hit weakened and stunned conditions. I also minimize one-hit dazed conditions. A one-hit condition is one that an attack imposes on the first hit with no other circumstances required. I instead place these conditions in cascading effects—effects wherein a character who has one condition worsens when hit again or when hit by a specific power, or fails a save or two. Multiple hits or save failures are required to impose progressively worse conditions. Why? Stunned, weakened, and dazed conditions not only diminish fun, but they also add to grind. Conversely, when placed in cascading effects, the potential of facing the worsening of a condition can change tactical choices and add tension to the encounter. The gameplay result is positive instead of frustrating or grindy.
It’s important, if you diminish serious conditions such as these, that you increase the monster’s damage at least a bit. This assumes the attack deals damage, of course. Some don’t. In that case, you might consider adding damage or tinkering with the action cost the way I did on my copper dragon’s version of frightful presence. Simply eliminating the serious condition without upping the damage can make the power flat.
Dull is what you want to avoid, and that can mean playing in ways that are less than truly optimal or strategic for a given monster. We’re playing a game here, and cinematic value has to trump strategic play at times. Sure, it’s best when the two mesh, but that’s an ideal situation. If less than ideal is the situation, change that situation. Further, let players feel the difference in power, and let characters trigger some of their powers. Solo creatures know they’re mighty, so provoking a few opportunity attacks and ignoring marks from the puny characters might be okay a few times.
Take the Monster Manual black dragon. It could hide in its cloud of darkness, and certainly might do so in a “realistic” situation, but how is that fun for anyone? Change monster elements like this when you find them while you’re preparing. Be prepared to make alterations on the fly if you see a monster’s power having a negative effect on the game. Thrashing the characters isn’t essentially negative, but frustrating the players is. It’s better if the dragon uses the cloud to gain clear advantages, such as choosing its targets without regard for the defender or covering its disengagement.
Disengagement powers, similarly, must be used wisely, or the players might start to feel like the characters just can’t gain an edge. A recharge, such as my copper dragon’s twice-per-encounter frightful presence, can help to control disengagement. So can player choice. For instance, maybe one of a solo monster’s disengagement powers works only if the creature is flanked. As long as you’re clear that the power has that limitation—probably after it goes off once, and then you fill the players in on what’s happening in game terms—the players choose whether their characters flank the monster. If the players refuse to change tactics, the characters suffer. Too bad for them.
Closure
While I was writing this, I realized that these play strategies apply to general encounter design, especially important encounters, in numerous ways. You probably realized that before I did. I’m not going back and making this a general article, though. Nope.
Anyway . . .
Players always need to be informed or to have a chance to be so enlightened. Terrain and other extra encounter elements can make any encounter saucier. Skill use is fun and makes a player feel smart for having chosen a skill. (Remember, what’s good for the characters is good for the monsters. Lead by example with skill use. Make them pay!) You owe it to yourself and your players to tinker with the game, before or during play, when frustration seems to be a likely result of a given mechanical element. D&D is an evolving game, and even official material has flaws. Drama and fun are always more important than rules or realism.
You won’t get it right every time. Don’t sweat it. Neither do I. But we can all aim high, and learn from each shot that misses the target or hits it dead center.
We’ve also come the conclusion of my series on dealing with solos in your game. Thanks for coming with me on this journey. I can only hope you learned as much as I did while thinking and writing on this topic.
If you’re just joining us, you can read the first, second, third, and fourth installments if you like. You can also see the other solo articles in the rundown of my Analysis Paralysis column from the Columns menu. Updates on the column can be had by selecting Analysis Paralysis from among the available RSS feeds.
The Virtual “We’re behind you” Card: Chris Sims
(Editor’s Intro: Chris Sims was recently diagnosed with a Skin Cancer condition which, thankfully, turned out to be minor and treatable by facial surgery. This post is a virtual get well card and we would really appreciate for you to share a few kind words with us and sign it)
(Post publication edit: Turns out that Chris’ truck betrayed him and had to cancel the surgery and push it to next week… so let’s make this card a “we’re behind you” card then!)
Dear Chris,
We at Critical Hits, all our readers and fans would like to wish you a rapid recovery for what the “authorities” called a treatable growth. Rest assured that we all know the truth and support you with your fight against the spawns of the Far Realm. We know what invaded your stoic visage right after this unfortunate encounter with an overripe piece of Brie cheese in your refrigerator a few months ago.
Know that we all sent secret prayers to our deity, meditated upon our respective spiritual philosophies and harnessed our power sources of choice to unify our voices to aid your surgeon and crew. Thus, we hope she doesn’t score 3 failures before the required 8 successes that is this challenge of fending off the growing Fell Taint from your handsome face.
Rest assured, we all believe that the big DM in the sky is way less of a killerDM than some of your friends and former colleagues.
We look forward to seeing you back again on your feet and on the pages of this here website.
Phil & Dave on behalf of the whole Critical Hits crew, friends and readers.
Art graciously offered by Jared Von Hindman
Inq. of the Week: D&D and Magic Items?
Last week Dave asked about which of the big summer conventions you are planning on going to just before he set out for Origins 2010 himself (which he’ll no doubt be writing about this week). The largest group was 46% of you that aren’t planning on attending any of the big gaming conventions. The most popular convention was GenCon with 26% of you planning on going, followed by the Other response with 13% and just above Origins that 12% of you attended just last week. Dragon*Con came in at 9%, San Diego Comic Con had 5% and PAX Prime was at the bottom with 4%. We don’t take these as full proof numbers, just a decent look at which cons are more popular and get more attendance amongst you guys.
Today I’d like to touch on a topic that is very prominent on my mind lately, the topic of how magic items are handled in Dungeons & Dragons and specifically how they’re designed to be used in 4th Edition. I would imagine there is some good discussion that can be had on this topic, but between Dave and I we pretty well agree on the matter so I’m bringing it up here to hopefully open up to a larger range of opinions and see what we get. The DMG2 introduced some solid rules for skipping magic items and keeping the math intact by adding flat bonuses per tier/level so that the PCs can keep up with the monsters without the need for magical weapons and armor.
One of the really fantastic elements of D&D is that you can have one group’s campaign where magic items abound and every character is draped in more than enough of them to handle various situations, or you can have a game where magic items have been unheard of for centuries and the discovery of only one of them can change the course of the entire campaign. Of course there are always the artifacts or the healing potions which run the range from incredibly rare and powerful to common and used nearly every day but are all still magical items, but it’s not very difficult to look at any campaign or setting and figure out roughly how common magic items are in that world. With all of this in mind, I’m asking:
Loading ...Please feel free to share any details about your characters or campaign worlds in the comments. It doesn’t matter if you have a Conan-like character who doesn’t need a magical sword to slice people’s heads off or an epic paladin wearing radiant forged plate armor and a holy avenger, we want to hear about it all!
Review: “Fiasco”
Jason Morningstar likes to describe Fiasco as being about “powerful ambition and poor impulse control,” and the rules are laser focused on this. It provides the powerful ambitions and interferes with the players’ natural impulse control. The rest – the juicy stuff, the fun stuff – is in the hands of the players. That minimalism – that focus – will turn many gamers off, but it is also the reason Fiasco succeeds so brilliantly.
The Skinny
Fiasco is inspired by a certain type of movie, most strongly associated with the Coen Brothers, where there are several characters that have a plan, plus, possibly, a couple who have strong convictions. These plans and convictions run up against each other over the course of the movie, and a human train wreck results. Morningstar, in an appendix, cites Blood Simple, Fargo, A Simple Plan and Burn After Reading as the four perfect examples of the genre (he also includes about 100 lesser exemplars). In Fiasco, each player creates one of these characters and then, during play, they run their characters at each other at high speed. By the end, there will be winners and losers, and they won’t necessarily be deserving of their fate.
The system is a far cry from Dungeons & Dragons or Warhammer. In fact, it belongs to a new school of RPG design that calls itself as Structured Freeform. Related to the Scandinavian Jeepform movement but aimed at tabletop play instead of LARP, Structured Freeform does not focus on conflict resolution or skill checks, let alone combat systems. Instead, the rules of these games focus on developing characters and scenes that produce the kind of story the designer wants, and trusts the players to go in the direction these pointers indicate. As with Fiasco, many of these games avoid GMs, and play in a single sitting. In this case, all players take turns establishing scenes that feature their characters (and any other characters they feel are appropriate), although they only get four turns, plus a denouement, to tell their character’s story. An entire Fiasco arc should take no more than 3 hours to play out, plus a little extra time if there is a rules explanation. With a group of experienced players, playing time should come closer to two hours than three. [Read the rest of this article]
Wizards’ 2011 Spring Catalog Preview
I started previewing the Wizards of the Coast 2011 spring catalog with the Player’s Option: Heroes of Shadow preview I posted last week, which introduces more content for the shadow power source including the Necromancer and Hexblade classes. Next I’ll be talking about some of the other products listed in the Roleplaying Games section of the catalog.
The first product listed for January 2011 is a Dungeon Tiles set called Caverns of Icewind Dale. It will include “tiles with which to build icy caves, winter backdrops, and other exciting encounter locations.” This Dungeon Tiles product is actually thematically tied to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, much like the Desert of Athas dungeon tiles set from this year. The next product is set for February release and is a Deluxe Dungeon Master’s Screen for 4th Edition. The screen will supposedly have artwork by the one and only Wayne Reynolds, but other than that it sounds like it is similar in construction and quality to the original 4E DM screen though it will almost certainly have updated rules and information on the inside of the screen. The retail price listed is $9.95.
February will also see the release of a book titled Gazetteer: The Nentir Vale which is described as a paperback 6″ x 9″ book much like Player’s Option: Heroes of Shadow. This will be the first in a new series of supplements that spotlights specific regions in the 4E D&D core world.
Gazetteer: The Nentir Vale provides the definitive guide to the Nentir Vale region, introduced in the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game Starter and the Dungeon Master’s Kit. Herein you’ll find adventure hooks, NPCs, maps, and detailed information about specific locations within the Vale. The material in this book can also be adapted to any campaign setting.
The overview of the series indicates that future Gazetteer supplements will detail regions beyond the Nentir Vale, further expanding the core world setting of the base 4th Edition products such as the “H”-series of adventures (Keep on the Shadowfell, etc).
An expansion for Gamma World called Legion of Gold is also in the catalog for February, but it looks like this product is already up on the Wizard’s website for December of this year. Nonetheless, the product will supposedly include more mutants, monsters, and technology gone awry for your Gamma World adventures along with creature tokens and 15 exclusive game cards with new mutations, technology, and alliance options.
The last new product that is featured in the catalog is set for April 2011 release and it is a hardcover book titled Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium. This 160 page book will be the next book in the line of the two Adventurer’s Vault books, but this time it will supposedly have more history and fluff provided for each magic item that is presented.
Welcome to Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium, a wondrous collection of magic items – each one with a story to tell. This tome provides Dungeon Masters with a ready assortment of treasures to tempt greedy players, along with historical nuggets and alluring adventure hooks that set these items apart from your run-of-the-mill flaming sword or bag of holding. This book adds rich flavor to the treasures and trinkets presented within, and a dash of inspiration for Dungeon Masters looking to liven up a monster’s trove. Hold on to your magic hats – everything must go!
That’s it for the new products in the 2011 spring catalog aside from a few pages on the full Essentials line. I hope this has given you some more things to look forward to and speculate about! I’ve also updated the image for the Player’s Option: Heroes of Shadow with a scan from the catalog rather than the fuzzy picture I had up before.
D&D 4e: The New Player’s Option
I was actually very surprised while looking through the Wizards Spring 2011 catalog when I stumbled across a new book coming out in March, Player’s Option: Heroes of Shadow. There are a lot of aspects to this book that are interesting, for one it is supposedly going to be a 6″x9″ and 320 page book selling for $19.95 in trade paperback format. The description for the book mentions three specific classes that it will support – Assassins, Necromancers, and Hexblades. Any other content beyond simply introducing the Shadow power source is not defined, but I think the inclusion of those two new classes alone is enough for most people to get excited about it.
I am a big fan of the decision to make this book something more unique than simply another power source supplement (and “Shadow Power” doesn’t have a great ring to it anyway). The shadow power source was introduced with the Assassin, a D&D Insider exclusive class which will apparently be supported by this book as well, but was not addressed at all in the Player’s Handbook 3. On top of that, this book seems to be the beginning of the Player’s Option series, which is described with:
Player’s Option books are aimed at players who are ready to move beyond the Player Essentials books, Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms. The Player’s Option series presents advanced Dungeons & Dragons character options as well as new ways to customize and optimize one’s existing character.
I’m confused as to the tie-in between the Essentials line and this book that seems to be more in line with the previous books released. Heroes of the Fallen Lands is going to have content for Clerics, Fighters, Rogues, and Wizards while Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms will have content for Druids, Paladins, Rangers, and Warlocks. With such a limited selection of the classes that are now available for 4th Edition, it seems odd to bill the Player’s Option series as an expansion to the Essentials line. That said, I am a very big fan of the Assassin class (so much so that I asked Mike Mearls some questions about it when it was released) and its Hex based abilities so I can’t wait to see how the other shadow classes come out! [Read the rest of this article]
Monster Manual 3 Interview with Greg Bilsland
The Monster Manual 3 is due for release in just a few short days. We had the opportunity to ask Greg Bilsland, Wizards of the Coast’s designer and lead editor for the Monster Manual 3, five questions related to the release of the MM3.
Let’s dive right into the questions.
Critical Hits: With the Monster Manual 2 we saw changes to the design of Solos and Minions. What sort of design changes were behind the MM3?
Greg Bilsland: Monster Manual 3 has some significant changes to monster accuracy and damage. We decided during the development process to look at whether monsters were threatening PCs. We concluded that PCs were, in many cases, killing monsters so fast that the monsters were not challenging the characters. To that effect, we increased monster damage output by about 30-40%.
We also took a look at monster accuracy. We reexamined the various roles and ended up adjusting brute accuracy back to baseline. We felt that this change would enable DMs to use brutes below the PCs’ level more effectively. Artillery, controller, and soldier accuracy also got a slight adjustment. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: “The Perilous Secrets of Wilford Manor”
Overview
The Perilous Secrets of Wilford Manor is a PDF-only adventure from Neuroglyph Games for 1st—3rd level Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition characters. It begins when a well-liked noble asks the PCs to find his son, which the adventure suggests should be an old friend of the PCs, whether they also know each other or not. The trail leads to a small town, then on to an old manor, where they come in contact with an obscure sect, and beyond.
This is fundamental D&D – aside, perhaps, from the oblique inclusion of the Shadowfell, renamed the Shadowmoor here for licensing purposes – which is a good thing in an introductory adventure, I think, and the first installment of an adventure path. The requirement that the PCs be friends of the missing noble will chafe some players, but it does serve to tie the PCs together without being complete cliché, which is a boon to novice DMs and players alike.
Like most published adventures, Wilford Manor is almost linear, and there are a couple instances of blatant railroading. This is the way of published adventures, and all my wishing will do little to change them, but I always consider the linearity a bit of a shame. You should grit your teeth and let the players know, up front, what the deal is to minimize frustration and confusion.
Encounters
The combat encounters are solidly designed. In the early going, they are straightforward brawls, with some possibility of ambush or the party being attacked from two sides, but no terrain features more complex than difficult terrain. As the adventure continues, terrain features become more important and more interesting, and a couple of fights even offer terrain that result in optional, secondary objectives that change the state of the battlefield. Less appealingly, several encounters include soldiers and elites – but, thankfully, no elite soldiers – that are two or three levels above the party’s level. That loud popping sound? Yeah, that’s ChattyDM‘s head exploding. I would strongly suggest that DMs modify these fights to decrease the likelihood of grind. I’d rather the encounters changed gears faster, but on the whole Wilford Manor provides a good introduction to 4e combat. Experienced groups will likely find the early fights rather boring and repetitive, though.
Level aside, I do like the design of the original opponents in Wilford Manor. The major faction features a thematic power that is tactically interesting and encourages movement during play (although I believe I have seen it used before). The elites have enough powers to remain fresh for a long time (one has a statblock nearly a page long), and their damage is kept at the low end of the scale for their level, so they shouldn’t mop the floor with the PCs in a hurry. A couple of original artillery seem rather controller-like to me, but that’s a minor quibble.
I mention original designs because, unlike Goodman Games’ 4e modules, for example, Wilford Manor does not try to reinvent the wheel: a couple encounters refer to statblocks in the Monster Manual. One fight does call on creatures from two locations in the MM, unfortunately (although they are only a few pages apart), so a DM will have to do some scanning and printing or some flipping back and forth during play for this fight.
All three of the included skill challenges suit the situation where they are presented, are interesting conceptually and work well with a variety of skills (although defenders may end up as furniture once or twice). Sure, skill challenges should be run with a focus on actions, not skills, but it’s hard to hand-hold new DMs through that in text. I would be even more effusive about the skill challenges than the combat encounters if it wasn’t for one fatal flaw.
Sadly, not a single skill challenge result matters one whit if you follow the text of the module. Only the colour will varies between success and failure, and that only marginally. The one, minor exception is the very first skill challenge, where failure forces them to take on a second skill challenge (bonus XPs!) which, in turn, could cost a few healing surges. The second skill challenge is immediately followed by an opportunity for an extended rest – which also comes directly after the first skill challenge if the party succeeds – though, neutralizing that consequence. The final skill challenge, which is near the end of the module, adds a little interstitial scene if the PCs succeed, but nothing of consequence changes. Perhaps there will be consequences later in the adventure path, but there is no indication of that here and it’s unimportant if this module is run independent of the rest of the path.
Format
This PDF-only product’s layout is in landscape format so it is easy to run directly from a laptop. It also works well when printed out, since the layout, with a couple notable exceptions, is clean and printer-friendly. This is only spoiled by headers and sidebars that have a faux-parchment (or sandstone?) background texture and a similar texture on the borders of the page in the encounter layouts (Wilford Manor follows the WotC precedent of placing encounters at the end of the adventure, with each encounter receiving its own a one- or two-page spread). While the encounter layout is much more printer-friendly than WotC’s, it’s still enough to be a pain in the wallet.
For me, the most annoying thing about this product is an apparent lack of external proofreading. I don’t think there is a single page that is typo-free, and many pages are marred by two or three typos. There is even a case of identical read-aloud text in back-to-back encounters. I didn’t go through the statblocks with a fine-toothed comb, but I doubt they got away scott-free. While a few typos here and there are (lamentably) par for the course in RPG products, The Perilous Secrets of Wilford Manor far exceeds even this level, and the typos are a major nuisance. Competent proofreading, even for free, is easy to find, and this is inexcusable.
Bottom Line
The bottom line on The Perilous Secrets of Wilford Manor is hard to draw. A couple of its flaws are hard for a new DM to work around, especially with the skill challenges, but the content is the sort of solid, fundamental stuff a new DM should try to learn from. An experienced DM who can handle the bumps in the road is liable to think, “I could have come up with this.” I think, at the end of the day, I can only recommend it to experienced DMs that are looking for an adventure path that (it looks like) will focus on play in the Shadowmoor/fell and Feyweald/wild and DMs who are pressed for time, but feel comfortable making a handful of necessary tweaks. At a minimum, Wilford Manor is an impressive enough effort that I will be keeping an eye on future Neuroglyph Games adventures.
Mailbag 7–All By Myself, Part 4
Now we come to another piece on managing your solos. If you’re just joining us, you can read the first, second, and third installments if you like. It’s probably not necessary. I’ll reiterate a little before we start.
DMing a solo is at least as rewarding as running encounters with more monsters. It can be even more satisfying, since a solo can and should evoke strong reactions from players as it deals out destruction. But running a solo requires extra care, especially if you’re using the creature as the lone menace in the fight. Make sure your aware of what your solo can and can’t do, then prepare for it.
Work Environment
In any encounter, you need to provide your monsters a good workspace to spice up tactical play and the narrative. This is even more true for a solo. The most memorable encounters are a magical mixture of monster, terrain, roleplaying, and story.
It’s your job, as an encounter’s designer, to make sure the environment is working for the solo creature, but not necessarily against the characters. (I’ll elaborate on this latter point in the final installment.) A flying monster can use some open space. If the creature climbs and has good ranged attacks, think about including ledges and similar high terrain. Any monster that relies on stealth needs places to hide.
Terrain effects, such as those found in Dungeon Master’s Guide and Dungeon Master’s Guide 2, can benefit the creature, shoring up its weaknesses. A monster’s strengths might also be emphasized, such as how a flying creature’s aerial capabilities are highlighted when it has space to take wing. A creature that can use forced movement might have hazardous terrain in its lair, especially if the monster itself is highly resistant to the given hazard. Terrain can also be used as a story element—it makes sense for a red dragon to live in a volcano, for instance.
Terrain can provide the monster special powers, one or more times. A Huge creature might knock down walls or cave in a passage. Intelligent critters can also plan ahead for advantages with this type of terrain. A dragon might have dammed an underground river to use against intruders on one level of its lair. What if the volcano-dwelling red dragon unplugged such a dam to allow water into a chamber that has lava pools? Steam bath!
This last example also shows that creatures might be able to create terrain or other environmental effects. The ability to do so might be a power in the monster’s statistics or a terrain power you situate in the environment. Quinn Murphy’s Worldbreaker rules provide one a neat way to do this.
In any case, if the characters have little chance to gain a benefit from the terrain, be sure to consider it to be part of the encounter’s difficulty. Neutral terrain benefits those who occupy it, so terrain that helps only one side or the other isn’t neutral. If the terrain is an advantage only to the monster, it’s more or less a trap or hazard. Traps and hazards, as well as monster-favoring terrain and terrain powers, are fine supplements a solo’s ability to work well, as long as they’re part of the XP budget for the encounter and thereby fair to the players and characters.
A solo doesn’t care about being fair to its attackers, though. The best terrain features, in its mind, help it hurt or otherwise hinder its enemies, as well as disengage and reenter combat effectively. Terrain features like these also work to add movement and excitement to the battle. If the archlich can teleport to a ledge, forcing the characters to reengage on his terms, that can be cool. It starts to be uncool, however, if the archlich does that in a way that costs the characters whole turns to catch up to him. Smart monsters should be played as fun and smart, in that order, as I’ve said before.
Smart monsters, and even critters that are merely cunning beasts, have fallback plans, or positions, and escape routes. If the dragon becomes bloodied, it might withdraw to another area of its lair. An animalistic creature could simply flee until cornered in a new area. This requires a little more preparation, but it has the effect of changing up the battlefield, adding novelty to the ongoing combat. The Angry DM’s second article on D&D boss fights also talks about this.
Coworkers
Some DMs I’ve talked to take the solo label a little too literally. Although a solo is meant to challenge a party like five monsters might, the creature needn’t be alone. Whether it’s unaided is entirely up to you, your adventure’s story, and the XP budget you choose.
Good coworkers for a solo help the monster perform better or in ways that are more interesting. Allies might tie up attackers, allowing the solo freer movement during the early battle. They could impose effects and conditions on the characters that are beneficial to the solo. The combinations are limitless.
I like minions for this role, especially those who enter the fight in a paced way. A young dragon’s kobold minions might come in waves, especially to cover their beloved master’s strategic retreat. The solo creature might create minions intermittently, like Mike Shea’s dracolich.
Minions that impose effects on the characters, or aid the solo creature’s attacks, instead of attacking are even better. For instance, I created fire sinks in Seekers of the Ashen Crown. These creatures each have a 1-square aura that not only deals a small amount of fire damage but also negates fire resistance. The sink just moves to keep characters in its aura, and it never attacks. Such minions are easy to use and track, and they’re less time-consuming than minions that require attack rolls. Now, consider if all the fire sink’s aura did was negate fire resistance and grant vulnerable 5 fire in that red dragon’s volcano lair. Maybe the dragon’s breath even creates the sinks. Burn, baby, burn!
Pacing
A poor work environment and poor coworkers can make for a poor encounter, solo monster or no. But solos have staying power, so standing in one place beating away on such a monster can become tiresome. Terrain solves some of the problem. Movement creates some sense of pacing, as well. Proper planning and pacing can do more.
I’ve said that my theory on disengagement powers on a solo is that such powers help the lone creature gain a tactical advantage every once in a while. Disengagement powers also allow you to change the rhythm and/or location of a clash. Like any movement, these tactics increase the freshness in a fight. They force the characters to revamp their tactics.
You can purposefully use pacing in any encounter, even without disengagement powers. Monsters attack, retreat, regroup, attack again, surrender, or flee. You decide if and when the critters take these actions when you design the encounter. They look for tactical advantages and a way to put enemies on the defensive. You do this during play. Pacing for a solo is different only in that involves keeping a battle interesting with, ostensibly, only one enemy on the field.
Usually, a solo creature is so much more powerful than any one character that it might be bold while it’s not bloodied. Maybe disregards opportunity attacks to move and attack as it likes. When it becomes bloodied, it might become more cautious. As the DM, your roleplaying like this can keep the conflict interesting. As we’ve discussed before, a solo could also have a state change when it becomes bloodied or meets some other trigger, altering how its powers work. That’s another form of pacing.
The Work Environment section mentioned fallback positions. This is yet another tool in your pacing arsenal. The creature withdraws, giving itself, and the characters, time to regroup. Maybe it then attacks again, but from a different angle, or forces the characters to pursue it into unknown territory. Both options change the feel of the fight.
If the monster flees for a short time, be sure the characters lack the time for a short rest, unless you intend for them to take one. Allowing a short rest can make the finale a little more interesting, however, since the characters recharge their encounter powers. But what’s good for them is good for the monster. If you do let the monster heal, grant it no more than a quarter of its hit points, no matter how many healing surges it has. This break in a combat encounter can be especially useful if the characters are slightly outmatched.
Healing or no, give the poor solo creature a break. If it’s clear to the monster that it’s going to lose, it should retreat or surrender. Newbie DM had a fantastic idea about applying the rules for subduing a dragon from Draconomicon to use for other solos. (You could use those rules for attrition in any encounter, really.) Basically, the creature unleashes all it has, and it stops fighting when it’s bloodied or reaches some other appropriate measure you choose. Then the monster acquiesces to character demands based on how badly it was beaten. As a designer, I wholly endorse this intuitive application of the rules. Monster surrender is also a roleplaying opportunity that is not to be overlooked. It can tell you a lot about the characters.
Competition
Next time, we’ll take a look at solo encounters with the characters in mind. The focus, of course, is fun for those on the other side of your DM’s screen.
