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.

The Problem With "Epic" Campaigns

 

Like Hollywood, many GMs are under the impression that the bigger the Threat to Existence, the more compelling the story will be. In my opinion, that's not going great for Hollywood right now and it may not be working great for your campaign either.

What's Bigger?

One problem with Epic storylines is that if you revisit a storyline based on saving All of Existence, your next story has to be even bigger (Dragonball Z)! Because it has nothing else really going for it except spectacle, does it? Sooner or later, you or your players will either get fed up with increasingly outrageous ways to threaten the universe (Star Trek: Discovery) or you'll just reboot or abandon it.

Not every story needs to be about saving All of Existence. Heroes can get just as much or maybe more enjoyment from just saving a village from the Barbarian Raiders. But if the heroes are working to save a village, I bet the village will know about it.

All Alone in the Night

Your heroes fight the spectacular battle with the Forces of Naughtiness, and though it was tough, they prevail. But... I've noticed a trend in Epic Stories where the world isn't necessarily aware it is in any danger, only the heroes and the villains know what is truly going on. And while a heroic victory without seeking glory is very noble, this is a game of Fantasy. Your players might be looking for some positive reinforcement beyond treasure for what they've done. How about a parade, or at least a heartfelt "Good Job" and "Thank You". Your players likely aren't getting thanks in their real life. 

However, all too often the heroes stand alone.

Take Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. During the final battle over Endor, Skywalker has a serious battle of his own going on and the death of Palpatine and Vader may have helped turn the tide of the war. But I doubt anyone except Leia was told about what when down. There are parades for the Rebellion, but not for him. Very noble, the cause is more important than the person.

But! Your players might prefer a different ending, one where the people being saved know that the heroes are there doing what they can. It's all unfolding right in front of them. And when it is all over, the heroes get the recognition they've earned (see Army of Darkness).

All I am trying to say is that if the world is in constant danger of being obliterated every week, what does that say about the world? If the novelizations of Star Wars are to be believed, Republics are made out of tissue paper. 

And the Mandalorian? He just wants The Child back. That's all his story needs.

Tiny D6 - A New Love

 

It is a rules light system. Incredibly rules light. So what?

All rpg dice systems boil down into "What are you aces at?", "What are you okay at?", and "What do you suck at?" Most games add in a bunch of fiddly numbers to measure your suck-age in 5 or 10% increments.

Tiny D6 forgoes using math to describe your character. Instead you get Traits.

Example: On a scale of 1-10, how strong is Chewbacca? What ever number you come up with, it's just a guess. What do we know? We just know he's Strong. That's one of his Traits. And we don't need a paragraph of rules to explain how being strong affects the game. You can already infer that Chewbacca is going to have an advantage in any roll that involves heavy lifting.

Describing characters with words instead of numbers? HERESY!

Maybe, but it feels so nice.

So how does Tiny D6 system work? Well, you roll with 1 to 3 6-sided dice. Any die that comes up a 5 or a 6 is a Success. If you roll at Disadvantage, you get 1d6. Standard Test is 2d6, and Advantage is 3D6.

For those that like knowing the odds of Success - 

• Disadvantage - 33%
• Standard - 56%
• Advantage - 70%

This game can be learned easily, and gets the hell out of the way when you want to get into story. And it doesn't feel jarred by constant rules lookups and shouting attack roll numbers and difficulties. Instead you get...

Player: "I want to swing across the chasm."

GM: "Okay, but your not an athlete. You're an accountant, right? I'm certain you suck at this. Roll with Disadvantage."

Player: Rolls 1d6. "5?"

GM: "Against the wishes of gravity and all of your clients, you successfully swing across."

And since it uses d6s, I don't have to look for a game store southern #Okkamuggatawa (not a real place).

My only complaint is that Heavy Weapons deal the same as Light weapons and armor does nothing. However, with such a simple system, it was easily house-ruled. Here's what I came up with:

Light weapons deal 1 Hit per success rolled. Heavy weapons deal an extra +1 Hit. Using Light Weapons lets you carry a shield.

Armor adds to Hit Points. If Hit Points are Timers (and Tiny d6 openly embraces the idea with weapons dealing 1 Hit), and armor makes you stay up longer, then armor just needs to add to Hit Points. If you get dropped to 0 Hit Points, your ruined armor is the least of your worries. 

Light Armor adds +1 HP, Heavy Armor adds +3 HP, and Shields add +2 HP.

I have to say that the system edges out ICRPG for my new go to system, but only barely. The GM advice and philosophy of ICRPG are indispensable and I do not regret my purchase.

Final Verdict: If you play with new players, this is an excellent choice. If you play with kids, this is an excellent choice. If you are a seasoned rpg player and can get over not-knowing if your hero is 10% stronger than their opponent and can let yourself go with the narrative, this game may be all you need. If you're frustrated that you can't get the feel you want from more restrictive systems, Tiny D6 is incredibly easy to modify.

I think I may be done looking for a multi-genre system.

I don't know about the Supers game though. But I rarely ever run Supers campaigns. I don't have the knack for it.

Edit: I have one other complaint/ desire. I wish there was a way to publish unique settings for it but as of yet it doesn't look like there's any kind of open license or approval method. But that's just me, feeling overly crafty.

Mentats and Dreamers

 Today's post will talk about two different types of playstyles and analysis using my thoroughly uneducated pop psychology. These are personal opinions based on my experiences and should not be taken as gospel. Also, individual players can fall anywhere on the spectrum between these two extremes.

First up, Mentats. Others call them Munchkins, but I don't like that term. It's meant to be derogatory and imply that these players are having BadWrongFun. I think Mentat is a better description, and not insulting.

A Mentat gamer is one that derives joy from navigating the mathematics of a game, find the loopholes, and seeing just how strong they can make a character. This is fun to them. These players tend toward complex and crunchy RPGs as they gave a solid framework for the calculations. These players want to know the odds of success before they roll so they can make the most potent choice available. If you understand that, then you as a gm should focus your energies on making interesting and challenging encounters for these players to test their engines of destruction. I have noticed that Mentats are also more likely to be a part of the miniature wargaming hobby as well.

Mentats prefer games like Hero System, Pathfinder, etc. They might play a rules-lite game as a one-shot, but it likely won't hold their interest for a long campaign.

A Dreamer gamer is one that derives no joy from the complex maths and find them a distraction to the narrative. These players are just as happy playing Theater of the Mind as they are using a battlemat and minis. They carry their character in their head more than on their character sheet. They wonder why they can't have a Spear with all the same properties as a Rapier instead if they are proficient with both. Can't it just look like a spear? Would that break the game?

These players want the freedom to be imaginative without being penalized by the rules. They tend more toward Rules Lite systems like Tiny D6, ICRPG, Fiasco, Fate, or Quest. If your player is a Dreamer, then you need compelling adventures, dire stakes, fantastic locations. Also, these are the players that want you to mine their backstory for adventures. 

Where do I fall? I'm leaving mid-Mentat and leaping into Dreamer. I just find more creative freedom with these games, and I can take it with me to introduce new people to the hobby. I love helping players make the character they want instead of the one that gives them the best options. And lastly, I just need to know what your hero is supposed to be good at, okay at, and suck at. All the degrees in between just don't interest me anymore.

Disclaimer: I have not been paid or endorsed by any of the game companies linked in this post.

Keep on the Borderlands (ICRPG)

While waiting for a new game to start, I decided to make a party of four adventurers in my ICRPG setting WORLD OF ARYN and run through the original Basic D&D adventure Keep on the Borderlands. I haven't been through since I was 10 years old. I'm adapting the monsters to ICRPG as I encounter them.

The Party:

Vahn  - A Humani Ranger (Forager)

Rook - A Nomini (halfling/gnome) Shadow (Spy)

Torkka - An Ograni (ogre) Warrior (Rager)

Windwalker - A Salvari (elf) Priest (Healer)

I started with Cave Entrance D. The Goblins gave a good fight but fell to our mighty swords... but they had children with them. I don't remember any children! I decided to lock them up with some food. 

Next rooms had Hobgoblins and prisoners. I took out the hobs and freed the prisoners. Torkka had gone down three times. Next room, a lot of Hobgoblins (9) and their children. WTF! I lost the fight so the hobs tied up the party. Fortunately Rook is a master of lockpicking. He got a semi-conscious Torkka free just as a pair of hobs came to check the prisoners. Torkka took out her frustration on their crunchy heads.

Okay, things are getting dicey. The party decides to camp in the woods and have Vahn forage for healing herbs. He crits. He decides that he also needs to feed the party so he forages 4 meals and 3 herbal poultices.

We go back in and fight what I hope is the last of the goblins. Guess what, MORE KIDS!!!

It's quite horrific. Do I leave the kids to starve or put them down? They'll never make it alone since I broke into their home and murdered their families in front of them. In fact, this whole cave network is like a monstrous Melrose Place.

I think I may be the baddies...

Setting 101: The Fluid Setting

I'm trying to break my habit of prep, prep, prep, and never play. I'm looking for a more holistic approach. Imagine having a game world that can be everything you want it to be, where you aren't pigeon-holed by pre-generated content. Imagine a world that holds as many surprises for you as for your players!

I'm talking about a fluid setting: Basically a name, a high concept, and a sample starting location. Everything else is generated by the GMs imagination only when they need it. 

It's still just a rough idea, but this is what I got so far...

Zen Campaign World Design

Thou shalt not make a world map!

Once you make a world map, the world becomes finite. There's nothing left to explore if it's all been decided ahead of time. As long as there is no map, the world is infinite. Anything, or anywhere can be in it. 

Thou shalt teach the players of thy setting through their adventures!

The only meaningful way your players will get to know your setting is by experiencing it through an adventure. Therefore, don't start making maps, make adventures and let the adventure dictate what it needs. Just keep track of what you create in case your players want to return to that location. Through the adventures, the world will begin to coalesce.

Thou shalt think like an 80's toy executive!

You have an idea for a cool location, villain, creature, or item? You need to put it in an episode before the kids will buy it. Use an adventure to showcase the new content. 

Thou shalt give the players the freedom to add to the world!

By not spelling out every detail in the world, you give the player the opportunity to add things they would like to see in your world. Players that have the freedom to create their own character concepts will be more invested in them than a player whose has just randomly rolled some background items that will never come up in game. If a player decides that they want to be a Witch Hunter, that feeds the gm information about what that player would like to see in the adventure.

You see, you'll be discovering things about your world you never even considered. If you start a game with new players and decide you don't want witch hunters, you can pluck them out since they aren't "hard-coded" into the setting, only the previous game.

That's the beauty of a Fluid setting, it can be completely different depending on the group playing. It will always be fresh and new to the GM with each new group. You can keep what works and toss what doesn't.

Just remember:

 If the players don't experience it in the game, it doesn't exist.

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!

Magic and Technology in the Same Setting...Why?

I'm not saying it can't be done. The premise of Shadowrun is sound, the world embraced technology because magic didn't exist. Magic awoke onto the scene so it makes sense that they would be in conflict.

But let's take your typical D&D Fantasy-Land. Magic is all around. Despite the claimed "rarity" of magic items, the heroes will come across a lot of it, usually in the hands of the villain. Magic has been tamed, identified, and spells can be repeated and taught. Magic is the technology. Given how powerful the idea of magic is (getting something for basically nothing), why would anyone pursue mundane technology? Technology would only advance in areas that magic can't. This is why it's important to know the limits of magic in your setting.

So would there be guns in Fantasy-Land? Traditional guns? Not likely, unless they were developed in a place of no magic and brought into Fantasy-Land. Why invent a gun when Flame Bolt and Eldritch Blast wands are options. A "Gun" developed in Fantasy-Land would likely be magic based, a wand shaped like a modern firearm. In which case, does it matter if you reskin wands as pistols?

Here's another instance of unlikely technology in Fantasy-Land, medical kits. Medical kits take time to use and they suck. However, the dearth of healing potions and low level healing spells are far more efficient and effective and would drive out the medical kit market. Heck, the presence of resurrection magic (if you are rich), throws a huge wrench into the circle of life (see Altered Carbon).

I'm not saying you shouldn't use magic and technology in the same setting, I'm suggesting that you think of them as one and the same. Whatever tech you want in a Fantasy setting, consider a magic-themed item that would do that. The gunfighter in a fantasy setting has been done before. Try adding some new spice to the old trope. If you absolutely want them in the same setting for contrast, make sure they each have limits that only the other can fill. Otherwise the inclusion of both may just feel like cheap fan-service.

Also, consider that if technology is there to make ordinary people as powerful as mages, magic will feel far less amazing in your setting.

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".

How to Run a Heist in Any System

This blog is in response to Zee Bashew and Matt Coleville's youtube channels, regarding running a heist. 

You want to run a heist, or your players are about to storm a heavily defended outpost. Preplanning is key, but how do your players know what to plan. I doubt any of them has real-life experience in these areas, but the characters probably do. So how do you cover for your player's lack of foresight?

The following method is a combination of the Leverage RPG system for heists and some suggestions made for Savage Worlds, but they will work for any system. You may have to add the meta-currency (bennies, tokens, fate points, hero points, most games already have one).

Start with some skill rolls. Every player needs to decide what their contribution will be to the plan: The hacker my crack the security systems, the Mastermind might get the layout, the hitter may keep tabs on the security guards, etc. Then everyone gets a skill roll. If the roll succeeds, add a Meta-Token into a pot. If it's a critical success, add two or three.

During the actual heist, any player may take a Meta-Token from the pot and spend it to reroll a failed roll or to conveniently have a tool for a job that wasn't listed on their character sheet. The Meta-Token might also follow the rules of whatever game system you are using. The player should explain how their fore-planning allowed them the advantage on the roll. Keep in mind also, the pot doesn't refill. Once it is empty, the heroes have reached the limit of what their pre-planning can do to help.

That's it. It should be easy to bolt into your game system.

Effort and Why I Dig It (ICRPG)

ICRPG uses a system called Effort, as in "this task requires more than the flip of the switch so let's see how far you get this round". Damage is effort, each round you see how much closer you've pushed the enemy toward Deadsville. Well Runehammer thought that such an interesting system should get used more often. Now, all complicated tasks have "Hit Points", and you must defeat them using the relevant skill and Effort. Now, the lock on the doorknob isn't going to be attacking you back so "where is the drama" you ask? It's in the form of a TIMER. 

A Timer is usually a d4, but it could be a d6. The GM rolls it and the players then have that many rounds to do the task before SOMETHING HAPPENS. What is it? Only the GM knows for sure and it's enough to make you pee your britches.

You don't have to use a Timer all of the... er... time, either. Suspense has to be a roller-coaster, with ups and downs for contrast. If every moment has suspense, players will become numb to it. Just pull it out every time you want the players to get worried.

Now Effort is rated by a specific die type: d4 for Basic Effort, d6 for Weapons or Tool Effort, d8 for Magic or Super-Tech Effort, d10s are skipped as they are used solely for Loot Tables, and d12s as ULTIMATE EFFORT!

Wait, all weapons deal d6 damage?

Yup.

But That's NOT REALISTIC?

What is? Take D&D for example and the humble spear. In reality, the spear was one of the most common weapons on the battlefield. It was easy to make, cheap, keeps your opponents out of reach, and could be mastered by an unskilled user. But in D&D, those extra attributes aren't calculated. As a result, every player (that I have witnessed) picks a Longsword, a Rapier, or a Two-Handed weapon because they deal the most damage for the character type. Using a spear is a detriment to the character.

Well ICRPG says "It doesn't matter anymore, use what you like". I LOVE this. My players can now use whatever type of weapon that makes them look cool (Rule of Cool) and all I have to do is add a few tags. They can even make up weapons. Putting them in ICRPG is a snap. What's that? You want fold-away short-swords that can unfold into climbing picks like Rayla's in The Dragon Prince?

Okay so that's Shadow Elf Butterfly Swords: d6 Effort; Tags: Alien, Climbing, Concealed, Fast, Light, and Sturdy.

That took me about 30 seconds and I don't have to worry about weapon balance.

So Effort shouldn't be looked at as Damage. It's a measure of progression to a specific goal this round. Hit points are the length of the track and Effort is the speed at which you run it. And the Hit Points say a weapon should complete it's task against an single-heart opponent in two rounds with two solid hits, maybe a little longer. Picking the lock on a one-heart chest is going to take 3 rounds minimum unless you score a crit.

Also, in the Movie-verse, is there a visible difference in damage between Subotai's sword and Conan's? How about the German Machine Guns, versus the American Machine Guns? When there was a difference, it was specifically called out. Guns deal the same damage but when Arnold grabs the Bazooka... The Movie-verse doesn't care that a .45 caliber bullet does more damage than a 9mm. You go bang, they fall down. While debating the merits of weapon details can be fun, it really has no place in fiction. The objects aren't the point of the tale, the characters are. 

Note: Hankerin hates the idea of balance. But there is such a thing as good game balance: The balance of player's options so they don't feel that their decisions in character creation led them to make a boring, useless, or inept character, unless that's what they intended. No one should be penalized for wanting to look cool. 

So in short, if I want to play a wandering Spear Master, in ICRPG I have the same shot in the spotlight as Grunter the Unwashed and his Clobberrock mk Many. In D&D, not so much.

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.

Index Card RPG Master Edition!

 In recent months I have been gravitating toward more rules lite RPGs. Partially because of how hard it is to get new players to understand the complexities of RPGs, and partly because I have found them too limiting. Then I discovered RUNEHAMMER. I suggest you go check him out.

Hankerin has stepped away from the crunch talk of D&D to talk about the philosophy behind it all. It was all stuff I understood in the early days of the hobby but lost as new RPG systems wrote rules for everything under the sun.

The truth is, you don't need that many rules. Here's what you need - 

• Who is the Character?
• What is the Character good at?
• How do we resolves tasks?
• What happens when the heroes do something that makes the task harder or easier?
• How long should the encounter last? (See my post about Hit Points are Timers)

RPG's are actually about time: Can you do X before Y? Can you defeat the Dragon before it defeats you?  Suspense is also about time as well, and ICRPG introduces the idea of TIMERS to put the pressure on. Now it's "Can you pick the lock before the Boulder smashes into the party". And fact that the timer is visible to all players? No, it isn't realistic but it does generate suspense! In the Story-verse, suspense is worth more than realism. In fact, anything cool is worth more than realism, right CSI? Zoom and enhance!

This blog is now going to extol ICRPG. It's a fantastic rules-lite system that has enough depth to play a campaign and enough freedom to do anything you want. ICRPG is a system of simple suggestions. Yes, you may have to do a little work to get ICRPG to do what you want but believe me when I say it will only be a little.

Stay tuned as I gush over ICRPG the way Kami-Kun gushes over her Senpai. I don't know what that means. My daughter said it would help me connect with a broader audience.

Hit Points are Timers

I've played a variety of RPGs over my lifetime. Many of them have substituted Wound levels for Hit Points, such as Savage Worlds and WEG's Stars Wars. As a system, I don't mind them and they seem more realistic than Hit Points. There is already a huge RPG philosophical debate over what Hit Points actually are. Are they a measure of health and blood loss? Are they a measure of luck and combat prowess?

My friends... they are TIMERS. That is all they have ever truly been. If a 4 heroes do X damage per round, my creature needs Y Hit points to survive long enough to do its cool abilities. If you want an encounter to last longer, give the villain more Hit Points. If the players change the timer speed by doing more damage in a round, BRAVO!

Well that's definitely an argument against Hit Points, right? If we know it's a meta-measurement, we should stick with the realistic Wound systems?

Not exactly. One of the things I've found with Wound systems is a lack of suspense. Often times a hero or villain can be taken down in one hit (realistic), but that eases tension imho. The player accepts the possibilities of their character being in one of three states: Fine, Wounded, or KO'd. If fine, keep attacking. If wounded, keep attacking. If KO'd, kick back and wait until you revive.

But with Hit Points, the results are more nuanced and random. You might be hit for a point of damage or you might be slammed leaving only one hit point. As a result, there is greater range of dread. Hit Points build suspense because it is a timer that can move a little or a lot, but still leave you alive long enough to worry how you'll be next round. You hope you might only take 1 Hit Point of Damage while you scurry for safety.

You know, the older I get, the more I realize that a game will always be abstract, never realistic. And that my players want "Movie-verse" reality, and that we are so well versed in that reality they we don't necessarily need complicated rules to emulate that. We can just use the Rule of Cool (That's cool so yeah, you can try it), and all be accepting of the ruling, and we remember that in an RPG, everyone is supposed to win.