As I write this I realize that it’s a very clinical assessment and analysis of my current campaign. I’ll post it to show you how I go at it, but it might be a bit heavier than my usual fare.
As mentioned in my last few Adventure Prep or Campaign log posts, I’ve stopped systematically hacking the adventure I use (Expedition to the Demonweb Pits) to better fit my personnal and player’s tastes. I did this mostly because my interest in the game is somewhat waning and the prep time I allow myself is diminishing (I blame the blog, damn you attention addiction!)
That being said, we’ve (well mostly I) made the decision of seeing this campaign through. I spent some time thinking how I could pull the game from “meh. ‘s’all right” to “cool” without spending too much effort in it.
So I started by reviewing the current state of the game:
The Campaign’s main plot elements:
- Planescape-themed campaign centered on stopping the Spider Queen, Lolth, from signing an alliance with her fellow Demon Lords therefore upsetting the balance of the Great Wheel (of which the players don’t care about all that much)
- The Main Campaign city has been wretched from the material plane, brought to the Abyss and rapidly snatched from there and dumped in the Plane of Shadows.
- The main campaign world is on the verge of being absorbed in Lolth’s Realm
- A 1/2 demon ‘patron’ uses the PCs to discredit Lolth at the behest of his Demon Lord father.
- Demon lord doesn’t expect PCs to succeed
- 1/2 demon son who as a stake in maintaining the planar balance ain’t so sure… and ponders the advantages of letting the PCs win.
- Regardless of what happens, Campaign world has possibly been “mortally wounded” by 2 campaigns’ worth of alignment-based global wars
- PCs are currently in a Demonic City trying to find a ‘friendly’ ambassador to gain access to Lolth’s ‘party’ to crash it.
My assumption on the PCs perspective:
- Aravard the Elven Duskblade: Save his world and Ptolus. Trash as many Drows as possible and stick it to Lolth bad.
- Cixi the Iron Hero Archer: Free her imprisoned people from Carceri and free her original homeworld from Lolth’s clutches (Most fleshed out plot PC-focused element of the campaign so far, but only affects one player)
- Nogard the 1/2 dragon Barbarian: Save the world and re-establish the ancient, almost forgotten, Church of the Platinum Dragon (Well developping plot element).
- Kynes the human cleric: Save the world at the behest of his Dragon patrons
- Inigo Firenze the Human Swordsage/Scout: Burn Stuff Save the World at the behest of his Dragon patrons .
- Cruguer the Crusader (Missing this week): Save the World at the Behest of the Divinity that gave him another chance.
Real life constraints:
- 3-4 sessions before summer months breaks group cohesion because of diminishing player availability.
- Players are tired, less focused, that includes me.
- We start at 7h00 and we usually need to conclude by 10h30, giving us a 3h30 session.
Conclusion:
Focus on save the world scenario and make the PCs seen as real heroes by all non-hostile NPCs. Discuss with the group about Cixi’s separate but compatible agenda. Have them kick a lot of Demon lord butt!
Add to this that historically the best games we had as a group were games where we played scenes that had significant impact in terms of of the story and where the player’s actions had a significant impact in shaping them.
Planning the game itself:
The last few games have been mostly about the players completing Fed-Ex Quests while the whole world turned to crap around them. It looked good on paper and would make a nice story, but role playing wise it wasn’t so good as no choices were given to the players and everything was more or less orchestrated to serve the story.
So by looking back at the plot, I see that I fell, once again, in the common pitfall of the DM trying to be a writer instead of a stage manager.
What I need to do now is use the existing adventure (to save time) and let the players use it as more of a sandbox. Since time is running out, I’ll need to keep an eye on pacing (unless players are having a lot of fun) so that they spend no more than 1 session in the Demon city and 2 sessions in the Demonweb pits.
Also, I won’t set up large fights or complex encounters anymore… nor will I add bottleneck conflicts that take 2 hours to play out.
Any planned encounter area that I feel not conducive to the story will be ignored.
For instance, the Demon City encounter plan is set up to reach the plot objective relatively easily (if the players are smart). However, it then degenerates in a series of fights and pursuits which are a complete waste given the time left we have.
However, if the players as a group, come to a decision that creates combat, well then, I won’t deprive them of thier fun now will I.
Lastly, being more tired myself on Friday Nights, I tend to reduce the amount of description I do. I believe that this is one of the key things that has made the games less engaging. Description makes or break a game in terms of atmosphere, especially during combat.
I won’t start a full essay here on the benefit of concise colorful descriptions. my new friend Ripper X did it quite well here, but suffice it to say that it’s one of the key things that sets a game’s mood.
My players are, for the first time of thier lives, in a Demonic city (Zelatar, a city that spans 3 layers of the Abyss, under the control of Grat’zz, prince of demons). I need to describe it and paint an evocative picture of it all the time… It has to be more than just a dirtier, smellier Ptolus.
I sure could use some help by my fluff focused readers here! Feel free to share snippets of Demon city fluff that I could use to spice things up!
Thanks!
Dicefreaks have a lot of devilish material, maybe you can adapt some of that: http://dicefreaks.forumz.cc/viewforum.php?f=11
Edit: They also seem to have some demonic material available: http://dicefreaks.forumz.cc/viewforum.php?f=12
Tommis last blog post..Summer
Last time I ran a demon city the thing that stuck in the players minds was my description that the place had an overwhelming smell of blood. Never underestimate smell as a descriptor 🙂
Aside from that, emphasize the chaotic nature. Random acts of violence, falling buildings that re-build themselves, shifting roads and warped time. Have it go day-to-night in a flash, then have dawn come slowly. That kind of thing.
greywulfs last blog post..SmallButMighty: Who da man? Da dwarf, he da man!
Good call on the smells. Hit all the senses in the opening description of an area.
As for other ideas, how about a fountain of bones. Not made of bones, but bones flowing in it instead of water. Maybe the fountain itself is made of blood that is somehow held in place.
At some point food and drink should be seen. A demonic bistro? Food is something the players can easily relate to, so wierd food will seem very weird.
A mountain of ears. But only left ears.
Maybe an angel or devil being tortored for the amusement of the crowd, ala Braveheart.
Spikes and Tentacles. You can never have enough spikes and tentacles.
What are buildings made of? Archetecture is always a good way to differentiate places. Maybe the main construction material is flesh and bone? Maybe some of the flesh is still alive.
All three layers should have their own style, hopefully as different as possible.
shadow145s last blog post..Pennsylvanians can’t smell nuttin’
What do demons do in a city? Wait around to be summoned? Probably not. Describe how there are quarrels going on constantly, groups of them being whipped while performing some massive manual labor, torturing captives (which the PCs may be inclined to stop, even if it means blowing their cover), patrols of hell hounds trying to sniff out any who don’t belong (or just get in their way.)
@ Tommi: Great reference. While I differentiate Devils and Demons in my game, I’m so bookmarking this one for my next campaign where I’m sure Hell and it’s Archdevils will have a very special place!
@Others: Awesome ideas! I’m taking notes!
Shadow, if I had a Twitter account that quote would directly be put up!
Fun with geometry and architecture: Straight corridors that lead back to where they start or that form a crossroads with themselves, the space inside random room or building being larger than the outside, zones where everything moves very fast or very slowly, where “everything” includes projectiles and magic where appropriate. Door that leads from A to B, but the same door also leads from B to C. Square rooms with a single corner. A room with three corners, all of which are 90 degrees (or half a pi radians). Place where everything is next to everything else. One where a single (5-foot) step will move one as far as there is space in that direction.
Drawing or using tiles to construct some of the above may be challenging, so consider some of them for noncombat encounters. If you happen to have a hex map, have one combat on it just to be unpredictable.
Tommis last blog post..Summer
Phil’s poor microbiologist brain explodes from all the non-euclidean examples
The Abyss: Designed by mathematicians with a sense of humor…
(Hey didn’t the father of Chaos theory just pass away?)
Hell: Designed by Martha Stewart
What’s an RPG discussion without a movie reference…
Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
shadow145s last blog post..4e Mechanic of the Moment: Actions
Woot! Ghostbusters FTW!
Don’t forget that you can also include hallucinations into the equation. This will truly emphasize the “otherworldly” factor of being in the Abyss. Perhaps one of the characters fails a will save and sees another character get swallowed by the land itself. Then when they begin to react to it, the other character is standing next to them the whole time. Was it real or a hallucination? What IS reality in a land made of chaos and evil? This will get them to mistrust their senses so they won’t believe anything they see in the Abyss.
Hey, thanks for the love, man!
I have a real hard time with stuff like demonic worlds, I really lack the kind of imagination that it takes to create them. The ideas here are absolutely awesome, and mind-blowing!
The spider world I can see . . . The Star Wars novels describing the Bounty Hunter Wars has a interesting new character. A shifty spider-like monster. The web is shaped like a planet, and in essence is the creatures space ship. It’s made out of web and all of the stuff that the spider has earned, stolen, found floating aimlessly through space. She is the absolute master of this web. Her brain is hardwired into the web itself, and she has thousands of baby spiders that preform maintenance and other tasks, and she can enter their minds at any time, all of them are focused on accomplishing one kind of task. She also has one nod who she’s allowed to gain its own intelligence, it works as an accountant and secretary. It makes itself needed by the spider so that she doesn’t eat it . . . which she always plans on doing, however the little nod is so useful. Of course the nod is planning her destruction without her being aware of it. There can only be one master of the web.
This concept was amazing! Her presents really made the entire 3 book series a fast read. I always wanted to steal that idea for a campaign. I enjoy reading these bizarre concepts, but I’m utterly incapable of creating them myself.
RIP
Ripper: Anytime man… it was a good post! I have a feeling that the author of the SW novel was a Planescape fan because that sounds awfully like D&D’s Spider Queen’s domain… She actually snags whole worlds and objects from various worlds in her web.
As for making it up… stealing stuff from fiction and adventures is part of what being a DM is all about! Heck a big part of this blog thing here is exactly about doing just that!
The scent and food ideas are great. I wouldn’t have thought of those. Got another idea for you. Demonic boroughs.
Have one area distinct from others because the buildings are all constructed like insects just sort of melted into the shapes of buildings. Chitin exteriors, cracks and rents that expose the guts, bulbous fleshy bits like ant abdomens atop towers perhaps to give a Russian feel if you want.
In another perhaps it’s all brass or ceramic. You could model another part of it like Venice but sub in mud that’s just barely under boiling with occasional sulphurous steam bubbles popping.
Another thing to keep in mind is that skulking around will keep your characters in the worst areas of the demon city I would assume. So keep some bright, shining center of oppressive power looming over them the whole time while they slog through dirty alleyways, past slave pens, through poor, abandoned areas, etc.
Demonic ‘burbs should scare anyone.
If I were wanting to speed things up like you are I think what I would do is present one encounter fairly early on, just after the pc’s have a chance to absorb the description and pick a direction they want to start out in. Have it involve a pair of demonic bruisers pushing around a half demon. Probably the easiest way to get the right impression across is to model her after the old alu-fiends. A crying, helpless looking victim who could really use a heal spell or two or at least a bit of heal check love can be compelling as long as your players aren’t too jumpy. You can make her a former slave who ran away or some similar background. She knows her way around and can help them avoid a few problems and fast-track to where you’d like them to be. Although she’s half mortal and potentially redeemable she’d have to work at it harder. So you won’t have too hard of a time getting rid of her if you need to. She’s been horribly abused for most of her life. As soon as she has a chance to be the villain instead of the victim she might easily do something to cause a rift between her and the party. Even if it’s just being vicious enough about pursuing former oppressors to freak the party out a bit.
So you agree with Ripper that there’s no point trying to do a lot of colorful description on combat?
I agree about the ‘long’ part yes.
Pacing is everything in combat and D&D 3.5 are long enough as it is. When I’m ‘in the zone’ I try to focus on punchy description of key maneuvers… when a critical hit is scored I go bananas…
But that brings me a question… how do you accurately describe a combat where hit points are only an abstract representation of one’s stance, endurance and health? I some times feel that I spend 1 hour describing the numerous scratches the PCs get…
You should post a Chatty’s Challenge of the Day to get someone to write a post about the tension between pacing and description in combat, and then link to it.
Excellent idea… since I won’t have time to write anything significant tonight (I’ve got Appointments back to back until after 9 PM)!
When I design cityscapes it’s always themed, because once a theme is established it’s easier to work inside that framework and add attributes to your visit there that fall in line with what you already have. Some examples:
Ruined City:
Blasted building licked by fire and filled with rubble, with no complete buildings and only hidden rooms and half-standing floors. The smell of sulfur and a fine coating of dust always floats on the wind, with forlorn cries and whimpers always off in the distance. What few people are caught out in the open are scared or dangerous, moving quickly and always looking for the advantage. Random puddles of burning liquid, smoke filled skies, and faint fires that dim the skyline by night should complete the feel. Food is scarce, perhaps the residents favor cannibalizm, and water is always dingy and brackish. Only alcohol is safe, but it’s potency here is doubled by the aura of hopelessness and senseless violence the permeates the place. Sorrow is on every street corner.
Abandoned City (almost):
Think Silent Hill with dark skies, thick gray clouds and dark rain that leaves trails of dirt and ash. Light is scarce, as everything prefers the dark and light draws the nasties. The whole city smells damp, decayed, spoiled. Grease and oil are everywhere, thick and hard to get off so that once it touches you the PC’s feel infected by it. Only glimpses of movement several blocks down, the whispers of children in fear, and the soft moans of undead should permeate. Evil, mutated animals with glowing eyes and snarling sounds should haunt the PCs, following just a ways before stopping suddenly. Every building is hollow, dark, and has a haunted feel as though you’re being watched. Supplies are scarce, but still viable, and random dried blood splatters and locked doors with undead and demonic entities should persist. Chase scenes and mob sudden mob battles are the bread and butter here.
City of Insanity:
Things should be startling, and nothing here makes any sense. Mobs stoning others because they wore shoes on holiday, people lining up to taste the blood of a captures angel bound in the multitude of the public stocks with demons selling parts of him like a grocer’s market. Packs of homeless children and giant rats fighting turf wars over midden piles and garbage heaps, then eating the other sides casualties. A necromancer who pimps out his undead, charging extra for the one or two free-willed ones. Crowds that gather to cheer random people jumping off buildings, and demons that randomly walk the streets and offer fine food and wine to those to sell them their sorrows and pains in return… selling their lives away little bits at a time. The city should smell like sweat, open sewers, and fresh coppery blood. The sounds of city are fighting, often between groups of people, of screams and laughter, lots of senseless laughter. Battle should be scarce, and random without reason or rhyme. Insanity wears ones morals into tatters, and the PC’s should feel this the longer they stay.
These are just the ones off the top of my head, and you can use just one or makes each type into it’s own sub-city with clearly defined borders and walls so that once the PC’s enter they can’t leave again unless they can buy/fight/manipulate their way out. Remember that the concept of Hell is relative to the human condition, and that an easily relate-able human weakness will strike to the core of the player’s mentality and always leave a more tangible impression.
Persistent horror in a campaign is not about the threat of death, it’s about the sense of hopelessness and meaninglessness that comes with realizing that the worst of humanity is not something we can beat or destroy, but something we all must learn to somehow accept and transcend… slowly.
Hope that helps!
nw_meyers last blog post..NE of Metroplex DM
On combat description: Let players describe hits that put opponents on negatives, especially if they are crits. This all assuming the players want to do it, of course. If they don’t, go for it yourself.
Hit points being reduced means that the character’s stamina is running low. An opponent attacks with a barrage of swift and powerful blows that the character can barely defend against, for example.
Tommis last blog post..Summer
That’s a good description, Tommi. HP is stamina. The final blow that drops you into negatives is the one that got through. Critical hits, if you use the Critical Hit Deck like I do, are when actual blows happen. A leg gets broken, an vein gets severed. That kind of thing.
RE: Noumenon
It’s not that I don’t describe combat, if something warrants it, then I do. I hate being repetitive. I describe enough so that the players know exactly what the creature is doing and everybody can get a visual on what’s happening. I don’t get too gory, as this can be misleading to players, and totally destroy what should be a great combat.
I don’t use any bloody Critical Hits lists, because this can damage my campaign. I may not be a slave to all of the rules, but I am a slave to creating a good yarn! Somebody getting a lucky hit on an enemy NPC that I spent good prep time on would make me as mad as me doing it to one of my players characters.
In regards to hit points and combat, I did have somebody explain their own personal logic about how it works and I really loved it! In a nutshell, Health always stays the same, but a more experienced fighter knows how to minimize the damage caused by getting hit, thus he can take more hits then a novice fighter that doesn’t have this degree of skill.
Ripper Xs last blog post..Prep and Game: Weathermay Estate pt. 2
This stuff is just so awesome…
Thanks everyone!
On the hitpoint thing
For my next game, which will probably be a 3.5 Eberron game, I’m planning on using a modified version of the 2nd edition starwars Wound Points and Vitality Points system.
It is buried in this post:http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/235200.html
Michael Phillipss last blog post..feminist issues