Campaign 101: Encounters

 I'm going to explain my methodology for creating campaigns, and to do that, I'm going to start with Encounters. They are the basic building block of every adventure or campaign.

An adventure is a plot with a series of problems (Encounters) that need to be addressed to solve the adventure. Common Encounters involve fighting, socializing, exploring, or chasing. 

A Bad Encounter is one that gets resolved with one or two rolls. It's a blip, a minor inconvenience that did not require the players to engage with story.

• The party thief rolls to detect traps. He finds one. He rolls to disarm it. He succeeds. Yawn.
• The heroes need to trick the guard into letting them in. One player rolls Persuasion, succeeds and they get in. My, how heroic.

A Good Encounter is one that causes the players to strategize. If they are talking about what to do next, they are playing the game. And their solution may not be what you have planned, but be flexible enough roll with it. It might be that their idea is way cooler than what you had planned.

• The thief finds the trap. It's a pressure plate across the entire floor, touch it and the roof might collapse, but the party needs to get across. Tell me how your hero intends to disarm or bypass this trap. It may require a player to make several careful rolls as or risk triggering the whole thing.
• The heroes need to get into that party but the gate guards say otherwise. The heroes need a plan.
• The heroes made it in to the party. Someone here knows where Alphonse the Mouse is and the heroes need to figure out who and where they're hiding him.

A Great Encounter is one that allows the players to strategize, but there's a timer going. 

• The heroes are in a trapped room and they have a limited time to escape before they drown/ asphyxiate/ get crushed.
• The heroes have triggered on of the mansion's traps. Now they have to race down a long, treacherous hall (requires multiple rolls) with a boulder chasing them. The heroes need to make 3 out of five rolls to dodge obstacles or get crushed.
• Alphonse is in danger. They need to find his whereabouts quick!
• Alphonse the Mouse is being held by several thugs. Combat timer - Who will run out of hit points first? or Can the heroes defeat the thugs before they kill Alphonse?

It's best have a mix between Good and Great Encounters.

What is the Goal and What's in the Way?

Every encounter should have a goal that the players understand. How they defeat that goal is entirely their business. Don't create solutions, that's not your department.

What's in the way of that goal? That's the complex obstacle your heroes will need to overcome by either outsmarting it, or out-fighting it.

Sample Goals

• To get information that helps you toward your adventure Goal.
• To acquire an item that helps you toward your adventure Goal.
• To stop or weaken an enemy.
• To recruit an ally.
• Stay alive!

Rewarding Treasure

Treasure rewards for encounters are very minor, like a handful of coins or a spare common item. There's going to be a lot of Encounters so don't overpower your heroes with rare rewards. Usually the main reward for an encounter is being able to progress the story.

Failing an Encounter

Failing an Encounter is a minor penalty and often just means they don't get the reward. This shouldn't make the rest of the adventure impossible, just a little more difficult. Give players the room to fail, but still find success. 

If they failed the Encounter because everyone died... well that's another Blog Post I will need to write.

Quick Thought - Faster Initiative

Why do we roll for initiative they way we do? It's needlessly slow and dull, even requiring table gimmicks to keep track. But here's a few facts:

 If a player rolls a d20 and the GM rolls a d20, then the player has a 50% chance of beating the GM and gaining initiative. 

After Initiative order is set, who goes first is no longer important after the first round since everyone is taking turns.

How do you speed it up? First, use team initiative. The players will have more flexibility that way and beyond the first round, it's just alternating turns.

The GM is the only one who rolls an Initiative die (d6). If he roll 3 or lower, the enemy goes first. If he rolls 4 or higher, the players go first. Want to spice it up? If the GM rolls a 1, then not only are the monsters aware of the heroes, they've set up an ambush. Their are more monstrous reinforcements waiting to spring on the heroes. If the GM rolls a 6 then the heroes have taken the enemy completely by surprise. Hey, sometimes you don't have to be stealthy to scare the hell out of someone rounding a corner.

Campaign 101: Inspiration!

The well has run dry? If you've read my other posts then you'd know I have been there too. Here's a few things that helped me out of it:

1) The Runehammer Channel on Youtube - If you are stuck in a cyclone of rules, watch these videos. Especially the ones about ICRPG. Hankerin Ferinale snapped me out of my slump and freed my creativity that had been stifled recently (Pathfinder Society did more harm than good to my GM skills, I think). 

2) Online title generators - There are several, I use many different ones. Generate a bunch of titles until one grabs your attention. Treat your campaign like a pulp serial of the 30's. Today's Episode: The Tree of Whispers!

Wait, what does that mean? I don't know but thinking about it gives my mind a target to focus on. Before I was staring at a blank canvas, with nothing there to inspire me. Now I have a title! 

Here's what comes to my mind: An unknown, feral group of forest elves ritually hunt those that wander too deeply in their forest. They give their sacrifices to feed their Great Tree: Annanus.  Annanus has grown old, corrupt, and mad. The tribe and the tree are one. Enter our heroes...

There, now I have the over-arching story. But I need to add dimension to this campaign. What two other problems are there in the area? Are they symptoms of the primary story, or a separate problem that also needs to be addressed immediately?

Side Problem 1) - We can kick off our campaign with this. A lord's son has disappeared (in the elves' forest). Unfortunately he was to be a peace envoy to a nearby kingdom and tensions have reached the boiling point. Since no one is aware of the elves' presence, one side believes the other has captured or killed the prince. Only his return can prevent the war. The heroes may run into scouts of either military force in the forest and neither will want to leave witnesses.

Side Problem 2) - The heroes will be fumbling around for months searching the forest. They need a guide. There is a tribe of Kobolds that have kept themselves hidden from the elves (or the elves didn't find hunting kobolds challenging enough. The heroes stumble across the Kobold, Yatzhee, hanging from a tree snare and panicking. If the heroes free the Kobold and befriend him, he can take the heroes to some of the Prince's company. The Kobolds took pity hid the retinue in their dens. Unfortunately the Prince was taken by the elves. Yatzhee volunteers to guide the heroes to the elf tribe and will tell them all he knows about them.

Let's add one more Side Problem - When the heroes reach Annanus, they see that an entire elf army is preparing to march. If it strikes the two kingdoms while they war with each other, the elves would triumph over both. How can the heroes warn and convince both kingdoms to ally when they must also find and rescue the prince? 

Now I would go about roughly outlining the campaign as I recommended in my post - Campaign 101: Villainy is Afoot!

I hope these ideas help you!

Character Background - What Do You Really Need?

This particular post holds an idea that can be added to any RPG.

Character Background, sometimes there's pages and pages of it, and other times there is nothing at all. How do you get those pesky players to give you something to work with without burying you in homework? Easy. There is only one question the player and the GM should know about the hero:

Why did your hero become an Adventurer?

Adventuring is a dangerous business. There are more comfortable ways to live, so what drove your character to this? I wracked my brain and came up with four basic motivations for heroes: They are ESCAPING something, They are DUTY BOUND to do something, they CRAVE something, or they are SEEKING VENGEANCE for something. From there, I created a list for what those Somethings are. A player can pick one or draw a random card if they like. (I like using cards for tables, it makes them feel like a tarot reading).

The list should help to jog the player's creativity to at least give the GM a plot thread he can work with. It can also be a spring-board for the writer's in your group. But you've got an elevator pitch for their character, and that's all that you need.

Wait, why is that all the GM needs? My character's have a lot of childhood trauma. They're well rounded characters!

Yes, but this is the Movie-verse! We won't be spending an entire lifetime with your hero. We only have time to explore the facets of one trauma, if that. Since the Movie-verse is focusing on your life as an Adventurer, your motivation is of paramount importance to the audience. We see why Conan sought revenge against Thulsa Doom, how and why Luke Skywalker became the hero of the Rebellion. We connect with these characters because they remain focused on what is important to the story (Conan's Revenge, Luke's ending the Empire).

Here's a link to my Character Background Generator (FREE!)

Edit: Sorry for being Late. Here's the link. It's also in "Free Stuff".

Worldbuilding 101: The Three Zones

So you feel ready to build your world but you don't know where to start. Suddenly the enormity of your task dawns on you and you panic! Do I have to script out every town and city, their populace, points of interest, and ruling bodies? Do I need to know how the toilets flush? And so you searched online for assistance. So did I.

Sadly I gleaned very little about a process for actually building a world. It all felt like that old cartoon joke:

I've made a few observations on the subject that might assist you in this endeavor. First, we will zoom out to view your entire blank world. What is your world? It's the playground for your players. But we need to know how they want to play. How do we find out? Well, there are typically three playground zones in any setting. They are:

1. Civilization: This zone is all about the inner cities, the core worlds, mega-city 1. If your players want adventures in the city, they are telling you they want a game about intrigue. The villain's are primarily other people. The heroes must navigate their way through political pressure, corruption, all while making the right allies to help keep them alive. Cyberpunk is exclusively a civilization game. 
2. The Fringe: The fringe is where civilization has a tentative hold over the wilderness. It's a popular starting location as it offers both intrigue and exploration storylines. It's also a quick hop back into a city if the heroes want, or into the wilderness. Fringe stories involve societal breakdowns like raiders, rising warlords, and corruption but also include stories about natural disasters, plagues, pestilence, rampaging creatures, and forbidden things lurking in the shadows. Players will often be hired to deal with local problems since on the fringe, there aren't a lot of peace-keepers. Almost the entirety of the original Star Wars trilogy occurred in the fringe of the Empire. We only ever saw one civilized world... briefly, Alderaan.
3. The Wild: If your players choose to play in the wild, they are telling you they want survival to be important. In the wild, there is no resupply or comfy taverns. In the wild, anything strange can and should happen. The players are out here to explore. The locations should be awe inspiring. The threats should be unique and terrifying. This is the home of lost civilizations, ruined tombs, and undiscovered countries. Give it to them.

D&D tends to place its lost tombs conveniently in the fringe so that adventurers can investigate a sunken temple at noon and be back at the pub by nightfall for fried chicken. Well the fringe is a good place for it but might I suggest treating the search for the sunken temple as a transition between the fringe and the wild? You'll get more adventures out of it and survival without support will ratchet up the suspense.

So now that you know the three zones, what do you do with them?

If the players choose to play in civilization, then you know you need to pour your efforts into a city. That's just ONE city. Where do I put it on the map? It doesn't matter. There ought to be plenty of adventure there and it doesn't sound like your players are in the mood for cross-country travel.

If the player's choose the fringe, then you know you need a town. Your players may not like the town you have made but they won't know that until after the first adventure. Once you have an idea for a town, come up with three things that are troubling the town: Frequent orc raids, a mysterious blight on the crops, and a band of thieves are harassing the townsfolk. Your players will choose to tackle one of these issues, and if they hate the town by the end of the adventure they can go to a different town. In which case make a town more to their liking and come up with three things that are troubling the new town: Well those orc raiders are striking here as well, children are suffering from a strange "sleeping sickness", and there's rumor of a sunken temple in the nearby swamp. Build the towns as they are needed.

What if the heroes choose the wild? Then build an amazing location that holds a terrible secret, don't forget the keeper(s) of that secret. Also focus on how the heroes are able to survive the wilderness trek. What problems might they face? What random creatures might they encounter? Each adventure the heroes should: experience an amazing locale, fight something they've never encountered before, and learn a secret that the forgotten place holds. Here's an example: My heroes are trekking in the wilderness, survivors of a shipwreck, cast away on an unexplored shore. They strive to survive the wilderness when they come across an inland grotto decorated with the remains of torn-apart ships. What are they doing this far inland? The water in the grotto links to the ocean and the grotto is the lair of a kraken! The same kraken that destroyed the heroes' ship! That's not all. A local tribe of beast-men worship the kraken and view the pillaged vessels as gifts. As far as they are concerned, the heroes have violated their holy ground.

My Mad Quest for a Starship Design System.

Whew....where do I start?

First, I came up with a list of things I didn't like about the way the Sci-Fi Companion handled starships. Here were my issues.

1) Buckets o'dice: I don't like them and feel they slow down the game when you have a player who isn't good at math.

2) Buckets o' weapons: I don't want to spend a long time rolling a hit for each of a Battleship's weapons if possible.

3) Do I need a ship design system? Once there is a system, I found there was a desire to break it or munchkin it, even on my end. I don't want players designing their own ship, and if I intend to keep my prep down, there is no reason I should either.

4) A balance between weapons damage and ship Toughness that doesn't make things either an insta-kill or impossible to kill. Looking at the math, the Sci-Fi Companion tends to be one or the other as the scales get bigger.

So what I did was go through ships from a variety of settings and compared them to the weapons available to those settings to find the "sweet spot" or the balance point between damage and Toughness that Pinnacle designs toward. Here's what I found out.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHH!

It's all over the place! There is no sweet spot that they design for!

Okay, deep breaths. I'll just have to make one for myself. I created charts of all the various dice combinations (2-6 dice, d4-d12 with explosions accounted for) And decided to place my sweet spot at about 75% chance to get a Shaken result and about 50% chance of Scoring one wound.

Then I recorded the resulting sweet spot Toughnesses. And guess what? They were nearly identical to the vehicle design rules in the Sci-Fi Toolkit. Those figures were also used in Daring Tales of the Space Lanes: Starships of the Galaxy. Wiggy had already dialed into what I wanted.

DTotSL also had a bunch of other rules I intended to copy for starship combat, like Shield Pods and Batteries. Since a there were already a good spread of Starships pre-designed in the book... okay there was no point in reinventing the wheel. I decided to save myself from my growing headache and just use the Daring Tales of the Spacelanes rules. By the way, this is a conclusion it took me 2 months to arrive at. 2 Months of math, study, re-concept, and return.

I considered applying to make Starpunk an official setting, and even asked Wiggy for permissions to use some of his rules. He never got back to me. It's just as well. I think Starpunk should just be a fan setting adaptation for Daring Tales of the Space Lanes, if that's okay with him. So from here on out, everything this site produces related to Starpunk will use DTotSL.

I bow before your skillz, Wiggy!

RPG Loot Crates - A Cool Idea I Will Never Buy

Who loves presents? Who doesn't?

That is essentially what a loot crate, dungeon crate, rpg crate, any of the new crates or blocks that are rocking the current geek fad are. It's a monthly subscription to a monthly Christmas, and like all Christmases, the gifts may not be quite what you desired.

I admit, I want in. I want to get some blind rpg stuff delivered to me so I can geek out with my new toys. However I just can't bring myself to make the investment. And Here's Why:

• It's all D&D. Well that's a blanket statement, but more or less true. And if I were running a company that targeted RPG players, I would also set my sights on the 300lb Gorilla that is D&D as well. The problem is that I game everywhere on the mythical timeline, and fantasy isn't my favorite. Some crate makers have admitted they do other settings, but very rarely. Therefore I have no reason to buy a year subscription.
• Wrong game systems. As mentioned above, they target D&D heavily, but I use Savage Worlds as my go to. And there are hundreds of other systems that people enjoy that are being ignored. Even the modules and magazines that accompany these crates are for specific systems (such as some edition of D&D).
• Vynil figures. Some people love them, I don't. I am very picky about why I collect, mainly because my ex-wife was a hoarder. If it's on my shelf, it better do more than look pretty. 
• How many dice do you need? This gets included a lot because every gamer needs at least one set of dice, right? But I am afraid that this cheap, useful go to item is going to be in every crate and I purged myself of the great die bucket long ago. 

That said, I believe there are some good ideas that can be made better here.

• Truly personalized crates. Have you ever thought of making one yourself to give to a special gamer in your life? Suddenly this can be an awesome birthday/Christmas/ anniversary gift and you can tailor it to the person's preferred gaming. What is more, you know you are getting what the crate is worth and - no buttons, no ads, and no stupid frakking inflatable crowns!
• I am considering a digital loot idea. Imagine a bundled download for purchase from Drivethrurpg that includes a map, paper figures, a one sheet adventure, and a map. I have no idea how I would pull that all off monthly but it would be catered to Savage Worlds, no subscription, and significantly cheaper since I am just creating virtual assets.

Anyway that's my brain hemmorage for today. I am currently awaiting approval for my Cavern Tiles to go live on Drivethrurpg. They can connect to the "Pay what you want" Sewer Tiles I have already uploaded and will cost $1.99. That's a 50 tile set, btw.

Regarding Maps Without Doors

I have been struggling with artistic overload recently so my next couple of posts will be specifically about maps and tiles respectively.

So.... maps, (the pre-designed ones by Paizo and WotC).

Dungeon maps have a reuse-ability problem... sort of. If it's a map that you have used before, the players will know where the doors are, the layout, and if it is printed on the map then they will know the secret passages. There is also the problem that (even if it is a new map) you have to cover up undiscovered areas with paper or your players will see all of the routes and doorways.

Well I have an idea about that.

What if you had maps that showed blank rooms but NO DOORS. Like this...

Will the players know which path to take? Not without doorways linking rooms. Now how about you place door standees as the players discover them? And you place (or draw) room decor as the enter? Instant Fog of War without having to deal with a mess of tiles or cover sheets. And because you can place doors in different locations each time you play, you effectively change the map, keeping your players guessing. And you don't have to use all of the rooms either.

I would say that 3 different maps would give you hundreds of dungeon crawl combinations.

You don't have to wait for me to make maps for you. If you are hand drawing maps based on your favorite rpg's designs, try leaving out the doors until the players find them.

Adventure Friday! - Adventure Generators

To make up for Wednesday's light post, here's a bit o' fluff.

Everybody seems to have one. Even I took a crack at it (see the Free Stuff page). While they often give you a rough idea of the type of adventure, they don't give you the interesting color (or trappings) for the adventure.

For instance, my adventure generator might tell you that the heroes must Steal an Artifact while contending with Rivals. Sure it's serviceable but it doesn't exactly get the creative juices flowing or tell you how to make the adventure memorable.

Inspiration. I've been having a lot of difficulty with it. I've written a lot of adventure generators and none of them have inspired me.

If you are in the same boat as me, I can tell you there may be hope. Try looking for a Random Title Generator. Adventure titles, pulp titles, rock song titles, these online tools are out there. I've just started using them. Many times I don't use the actual titles they generate (many adventure title generators are geared for Fantasy) but they do inspire me to create titles for my adventures.

Now I have a creative springboard. I have to figure out what kind of sci-fi rocket adventure has a title like "Beautiful Plumage". Inspiring, evocative, my mojo is engaged.

So if you are stuck for adventures, try generating ten adventure titles and then go from there. It may help get you through your sagging mojo moments. Bonus points if you can link those ten titles into a campaign.

Here's some that I have found useful...
Random Story Title Generator
Title O Tron (Pulp Sci-Fi)
Random Fantasy Novel Title Generator

Adventure Mondays! - Part 12

Not a bad run, but I'm out of stock. I still haven't figured out what to do with next Monday. Hopefully it'll be something you enjoy.

And now the Final 10!

• Rumors are that a rival kingdom is preparing to invade. The heroes are hired to find out if it is true.
• The rare local animal is becoming even rarer. Can the heroes find and stop the poachers?
• A thief/ murderer is making the local police look foolish. Can the heroes stop the crime wave?
• Everyone in an isolated village has disappeared without a trace.
• A Power Player has been poisoned and the heroes must rush to find a cure and possibly uncover the assassin.
• The heroes are hired to defend a power player that is accused of crimes
• A noble’s daughter has fallen for an enemy. The heroes are hired to find proof that he is just using her for state secrets.
• A noblewoman's journal or love letters fall into the wrong hands and the heroes are hired to get them back discreetly.
• An innocent person's loved one dies as a result of the business practices of a group of Power Players. Who will see that these men answer for their crimes?
• A group of students dip their hands into crime and play robin hood. Are there efforts really altruistic, and what about the crime syndicates that don't like the competition. Do these kids need protection, or a life lesson about how dangerous their chosen path really is?

Adventure Mondays! - Part 11

Nearly done...

• A Monster or Group of Monsters has inadvertently taken something that must be returned.
• A local politician is looking for hired heroes to rescue his kidnapped family member.
• The heroes are hired to return a wayward child, but what is the child running from?
• The heroes must guard a caravan through dangerous territory.
• A town is about to suffer its annual barbarian raid, but this time they intend to fight back. Can the heroes stop this cycle of plunder?
• A couple forbidden to be together runs off to a dangerous ruin. The heroes are hired by one of the families to bring them back (and maybe get rid of the undesirable love interest).
• A cult is abducting people to use for sacrifices. Someone should put a stop to this.
• Someone has stolen a tribe’s lucky totem to destroy the village and take the land. Can the heroes get the totem back?
• Through sabotage, a secret group is trying to destroy the public’s faith in its government and destabilize the region.
• A young woman is asking questions about her missing father, which seems to draw a very violent response from a wealthy and powerful local who is bent on keeping her from the truth.

Adventure Mondays! - Part 10

Wow, has it been a hundred adventure seeds already? Yup! Don't say I never got you nothin'.

• A map to a lost artifact falls into the heroes' hands. (An oldie but a goodie).
• The heroes have been poisoned and must find a cure. The poisoners may use the opportunity to blackmail the heroes.
• The local ruler is using magic or drugs to enslave the population as a means to maintain order and power.
• A group is whipping up sentiment against a minority. Can they be stopped before blood is shed?
• A deceased power player becomes the target of a smear campaign. The locals want to know if it is true, the family wants it stopped.
• Local law enforcement has offered a hefty bounty for the capture or execution of a criminal.
• A child or family is lost in the wilderness and is in need of rescue.
• The heroes are hired to protect an archaeologist at a dig from bandits and other, darker things.
• A Group of Monsters must be cleared from their territory to make way for expansion.
• The heroes are hired to return stolen relics or items to the rightful owner.

Adventure Mondays! - Part 9

And here we go again...

• An Unstoppable Monster is coming to destroy everything.
• The heroes are waylaid by bandits, but the robbers are children. How will the heroes handle this?
• Animals have started attacking a town every night. They seem to want something inside the old church, but the locals aren't talking.
• The players receive a map showing the location of a hidden treasure deep into the wilderness, over difficult terrain infested with dangerous animals. Is it real, a ruse, or a terrible trap for greedy looters?
• Poor laborers beg the players to save them from their cruel overlord, a man who holds a contract for each of them that allows him to legally exploit them for underpaid, dangerous labor.
• The heroes are hired to rescue a family member taken hostage to blackmail the parents.
• The heroes are assigned as the escort of a Troublesome Noble.
• A dangerous creature is plaguing the locals and a bounty has been placed for its hide.
• Uncover the spy that may be in a travelling theater group.
• The heroes wake up in a recently deserted town with no memory of the previous three days.

Adventure Mondays! - Part 8

I've almost burned through all of my generic seeds. I wonder what will become of Adventure Mondays when I run out?

• A Valuable Monster must be delivered unharmed.
• Miners have uncovered something in the mountains and now it’s causing harm to the locals. The locals want it stopped, someone wants it for themselves, and everyone who has gone to investigate has never returned.
• A child missing for years is seen running through the woods late one night.
• The Heroes are hired to ensure the safety of a negotiation.
•  The heroes are hired to hunt down a person or creature, but discover its mistreatment and may be compelled to let it go.
• Strange lights and sounds come from an old ruin.
• A contact claims to have information of a plot that threatens to destroy city or country, but winds up dead before he can pass on the information.
• The heroes are hired to bring an affair to an end without the wronged spouse finding out.
• A group of local natives are becoming restless and diplomacy is needed to avert a war.
• Villains that the heroes have crossed before have unleashed a beast or bounty hunter to hunt them down.

Adventure Mondays! - Part 7

And it doesn't get any easier...

• A Useful Monster must be captured and trained.
• Mischievous creatures have targeted the heroes for fun. They must be appeased or destroyed.
• The Heroes are hired to lift a curse from a town that the town incurred through sinful misdeeds.
• The Heroes are hired to prevent the extermination of a valuable local animal by poachers.
• An experimental robot or creature has escaped and must be caught or stopped.
• A haunted house contains valuable artistic items, which brave players could recover for profit.
• The heroes are hired to put down a grass roots uprising.
• An android asks the players for help escaping from its owner and becoming free.
• Someone or thing is attack people and leaving them with no memory of the assault.
• The heroes are hired to protect a merchant vessel.

On a personal note: Things may slow down on the blog around the end of this month and the beginning of August. I'll be moving so there will be a lot of packing, disconnecting, unpacking, reconnecting, screaming at Comcast/Xfinity or whatever new brand name they switch to.

Game On!

Adventure Mondays! - Part 6

As promised, every Monday gets you ten more seeds for your games.

• An Unstoppable Monster is coming to destroy everything. Who do you save and how?
• The players are caught between soldiers and separatist rebels, and must choose sides.
• People turn up missing right after a town reverses its fortunes. Has someone cut a deal with the devil?
• The Heroes are hired to retrieve an important invention that their patron claims was stolen from him. Unfortunately true ownership is in question.
•  Hostages have been taken and the heroes are hired to end the standoff.
• An ancient machine or creature is accidentally set loose. Can the heroes stop it?
• The heroes get wind of a slave ship in the area leaving port soon. Someone should put a stop to this.
• Someone has arisen that appears to have miraculous abilities to heal and prophesize, but is there a darker secret to this gift?
• A cursed item has been making rounds and wreaking havoc. The heroes must track it down before it causes more harm.
•  A cult is selling a popular remedy that actually causes dire suffering.

Adventure Monday! - Part 5

Woop Woop! It's that time again. I hope these are helping people. I don't get much feedback, so it's difficult to tell.

• A Monster has settled into an area that the locals need access to and it must be removed or killed.
• While on a long voyage the heroes’ vehicle is waylaid by hijackers.
• Two government’s dispute over ownership of a recent find threatens to drive the region into war.
• The heroes are caught up in an attempted coup.
• All of the children of a town have mysteriously disappeared.
• A demon possesses a living person to fulfill an ancient obligation made with a person no longer alive.
• A dying miner claims to have found a mother lode and asks the players to pass on its location to his kin. The people who killed the miner have other ideas.
• The players discover an operation underway that uses slave labor. The slavers are cruel and armed.
•  The heroes are hired to hunt down a person of noble intent who seems to have become corrupted by greed, power, drugs, or a cursed item.
• There is a creature loose at the local shipyard and no one seems inclined to do much about it. The Dock-Masters offer a bounty but are much more interested in seizing the abandoned ships of the creature’s victims.

Last week I played the Free RPG day scenario "Risen From the Sands" in the Pathfinder Society. TPK (Total Party Kill) in 29 minutes at the first encounter. Skip this one. It really shows off the lack of playtest some Paizo products get.

I'm all for tough scenarios but the first encounter was a "Square Pyramid" (geometry buffs are cringing on that one) that Tramples all the heroes each round in a narrow corridor (no cover) and deals enough damage to drop any character in one blow (it's a 2-4 level adventure). BTW this "Square Pyramid" also has Reach (WTF?), over 50 hp, and Hardness of 8.

AND I thought I would remind you that this is a free rpg being run on Free RPG Day as a marketing ploy that is supposed to draw in new players. Wanna play an RPG? Oops, yer dead. Did you have fun? Paizo Fail.

Adventure Monday - Part 4

Back again with ten more seeds.

• A Poisonous Monster must be killed and a sample of its poison must be returned.
• A Valuable Monster is loose and must be captured alive.
• The Heroes fame as made them a target by wannabes that want to prove themselves.
• A Wronged Noble needs a champion to fight in a duel of honor.
• The players are caught between soldiers and separatist rebels, and must choose sides.
• Mischievous creatures have targeted the heroes for fun. They must be appeased or destroyed.
• The Heroes fame as made them a target by wannabes that want to prove themselves.
• The Heroes are hired to bring peace to a restless ghost, allowing it to fade away.
• A power player is getting advice from their dead consort. Is it real or is there a dark secret?
• The Heroes are hired to plant listening devices into a rival company’s system so that a competitor can listen in.
• The Heroes are sent into the bowels of a planet’s machinery to capture a rebel leader, only to find out they have captured a patsy, or have they?

GM Wednesday- What I Bring to the Table

A Word About Note Cards
I write all of my adventures on Note Cards now (4x6 usually or 3x5). The reason is because I am now a firm believer in "less is more". If I use a notebook I am tempted to fill the space with a lot of plans and schemes. I end up adding a lot of detail that makes me inflexible and might not even get used. a Note Card forces me to work minimalistic. 

Now back to our irregularly scheduled blog update...

Adventure Prep
If you have ready my Adventure Mondays posts, you'll see the types of seeds I use. This is where I start, very rough and vague and each new iteration brings more focus. The danger here is bringing too much focus until you have an entire story written. If your heroes deviate from the plan then your whole adventure is trashed. You don't want to go this far.

Let's start with one of my example seeds, "The heroes are caught in a siege."

I decide that this time the heroes are just minding their own business when local political upheaval sweeps them up and traps them in a siege.
Now I need to know who is attacking, who is besieged, why is this happening, and what is the imprisoned area.

Attackers - Local SWAT

Besieged - Refugees and displaced persons

Why - The news claims that a terrorist group has holed up among the homeless here. Since the players distrust anything the news media says and are always expecting something more nefarious going on, I decided that the twist in this story is that it is all true. However I won't tell the players that unless they choose to do some investigating. I have now added a new element of what is going on and will need to rough in what the terrorist group wants and how they intend to get it. Keep in mind that the heroes may just want to get out of the danger area and ignore this plot line.

Where - Try to pick interesting locations. I am tempted to use the trope of a rundown part of town or abandoned industrial area. To spice things up a bit, it's a burned out part of town that has been turned into a garbage dump. Partially collapsed walls emerged from a floor of loose garbage to offer random cover, but the ground is unstable making movement difficult and possibly dangerous. The terrorists have developed "snow shoes" to move rapidly. It's weird, but it's also plausible and memorable.

Total Work - A 4x6 card's worth of plot information or two sides of a 3x5.

Challenges

The next thing I need to prep are challenges. I say prep but mainly I just need to have some rough ideas. I'll have the NPCs so there won't be much paperwork here. The idea is to just be ready and flexible.

Getting out - Well the place is surrounded by SWAT snipers and teams with orders to shoot on sight. They aren't overly concerned with innocent victims in this area. So how will the players get out? I don't know. That's for them to figure out. If they come up with a plan, go with it and let common sense guide the SWAT teams response. Just be ready throw a SWAT team or two at them if the plan goes bad (and give the heroes the means to retreat back into the siege zone to regroup and come up with another plan).

Finding the Terrorist Group - Clues
The nice thing about this adventure is that I won't need to jot down the clues. The players will actively go searching. Really the only clues that matter are getting Rumor Confirmation (the news was telling the truth?), and location.
You could have an encounter where a news reporter has sneaked into the siege zone and a couple of terrorists have grabbed her. The heroes could get the confirmation from the her or any of the terrorist captives. They may even get the location from the captives. They could also get the location from asking around until they find a coherent homeless person in-the-know. I won't write this encounter down because I can easily improv it as long as my npc cards are ready.

Total Work - Just some prepared ideas. I won't write them down. This part could all be fluid and may or may not be used so I keep it to a minimum. If I must make notes, it might require another 4x6 or double sided 3x5. 

Maps
I use a variety of methods so I think I will cover this in another post.

NPCs

For this adventure I'll need stats for SWAT (Focus on teamwork abilities in their design), Terrorists, a Terrorist Leader, a generic news reporter, and a generic homeless person.

A Word About Aspects
Some of you may have heard of a game called FATE. I won't go into the details of the game itself but it does use something called Aspects. These Aspects are short phrases that describe the character and what they can do, or certain elements of the scene.

While I don't borrow the mechanic that FATE has built around these Aspects, I do use them as little notations that provide more flavor to scenes or people.

For instance, I might jot down "Buggrit! Millennium Hand and Shrimp!" on the generic homeless person's card to indicate he is way off his rocker. I could right "Mad, unlikely to get information out of him" but the previous Aspect tells me all that and gets me into the character quicker than a sterile description.

So here is a list of Aspects that I would note on the cards.

Homeless - "Buggrit! Millennium Hand and Shrimp!" "Mmm...Sterno" "We don't go over there onna count o' the ghosts"

SWAT - "Keep the paperwork to a minimum" "Cover is my friend" "At least we don't have to worry about hostages this time"

News Reporter - "My big break!" Ugh, its filthy" "Anything for an exclusive!"

Terrorist Leader - "What isn't mine, I burn" "All that matters is what you can take" "I'll write my message in blood"

Total Prep- So I have two or three cards for the adventure, a few NPC cards, and that's about it (aside from any maps I need which I will cover later).

Total Time- I came up with this whole adventure in about an hour. I found that my biggest stumbling block was the original inspiration, but now I have a bunch of seeds to get me through that (that I am sharing with you on Adventure Mondays!)

The most important thing I can bring to the table is an open mind ready to invent new problems for the heroes. That is the scary part of improving, but I suggest you try it. You may surprise yourself with just how good you are and how much better you become. I'll try and give some rough suggestions about how I improv in another post.

So it looks like I have generated a couple more topics to talk about later - namely Maps and When Things Go All Wednesday On You (Improv and the Art of Unpredictable Players). I'll also chime in on how to write a mystery adventure at some point.

Game On!

Adventure Monday! - Part 3

As promised, more adventure seeds for you.

• A Rampaging Monster is creating a nuisance for the locals.
• A Monstrous Plague is coming and threatens to kill everyone.
• A Monstrous Plague is coming and threatens people’s livelihoods.
• The players are set up as scapegoats for the secret misdeeds of their current employer.
• Something causes the wild animals in the area to attack humans out of desperation.
• The players are betrayed by a former employer for bounty money, and are hunted by mercenaries.
• The heroes fame as made them a target by wannabes that want to prove themselves.
• A prophesy of doom is uttered from someone who has never been wrong. Can the heroes stop this prophesy from coming true?
• Someone is forcing a hero to prove his innocence in a crime. If the heroes fail, many people and the heroes themselves will suffer.