Anti-social Players and Characters

While writing my previous post, something occurred to me that I've been meaning to write about for some time. In most RPGs, and most notably in D&D, there seem to be certain character types that cause problems: the evil PC, the Chaotic Neutral PC, the Assassin (regardless of alignment), the Rogue or thief. And, indeed, the Paladin. In Vampire, Malkavians were almost notorious. And so on and so forth.

My opinion on all of these is pretty straightforward: in all cases, it's not the character that's causing the problems, it's the player. After all, the character has absolutely no life or agency of its own; everything it does is as a result of what the player chooses. (And, indeed, I have no truck with a player using the excuse "I'm only playing my character" for this very reason: you chose to play that character and you chose that course of action for the character. If either of these is proving to be a problem, choose differently.

Besides, I've seen examples of most if not all of these character types played without them causing a problem. The problem lies not with the character type, but in the specific example of that character. Not all Paladins are lawful-stupid jerks. Not all Rogues feel compelled to endlessly steal from their fellow party members. Not all Malkavians relentlessly destroy the mood of the game with their wacky hijinks. And so on.

Ultimately, it boils down to this: your antisocial character could be of the mould of Wolverine or Jayne Cobb - he's an ass, but he's an entertaining ass who actually makes the game more fun for all the other people at the table. Sure, his antics cause you hassle, but in a fun way. In which case your character, and you, are welcome at the table - anything that adds to the fun time everyone has is a benefit.

Or your character could be a destructive sod who would be promptly driven from the group, if not killed outright, if he didn't have the magic 'PC' sign over his head. You might be having a good time, but it comes at the cost of other players getting upset or angry, or otherwise not enjoying the game. As a result of you being there (and playing that character), the amount of fun at the table is reduced. That's a problem.

(Needless to say, this isn't motivated by anything that has cropped up at any game I've attended recently. If for no other reason than that there haven't been any.)

New 5e Campaign: Dust to Dust

In addition to my ongoing "Firefly: The Lost Episodes" open tabletop, I'm hoping to start up a new D&D 5e campaign set in Eberron in the next few weeks. This is envisaged to run for about a year, though it may well collapse by Christmas or run for considerably longer, depending on how it goes. Anyway, as is my wont I'm musing about concepts, house rules, and other such things in preparation for the campaign.

Here's what I have so far:

Character Creation

This is going to a pretty standard D&D campaign, so there's actually not too much guidance to be offered here. In particular, on the one hand I'll be starting the campaign at a New Year's party (actually, a New Millennium party) and with no assumption that the PCs actually know one another, so there's scope for just about any type of PC to be in the mix. On the other hand, and as is always the case with D&D, it's rather better if those five random individuals just happen to form a coherent party who can cover all the main roles and work together without promptly killing one another.

It's also worth noting that I expect the campaign to have significant urban and dungeon sections, but while it will have plenty of travel it probably won't include much by way of wilderness adventuring, so it might be best to avoid building characters specifically for that. (Of course, if I find that I'm presented with five Rangers and/or Druids, I'll adjust my concept accordingly. But if, as is more likely, I get four characters who fit and one who doesn't really, the player of that one may wish to reconsider.)

Can I Play a...?

The short answer to this is: yes, probably. There are quite a few bits of stuff published for D&D, and if it's by WotC then you can use it. So, there are character options in the PHB and DMG, in "Princes of the Apocalypse", in the web-supplements for the two 'storylines' they've published, and in their "Unearthed Arcana" columns. All of these are open for use - if it's published by Wizards of the Coast, go for it! (And, yes, you can use the 'variant' human from the PHB if you want.)

If it's third-party material, however, or if it's something that was present in older editions but hasn't been converted, then I'm afraid not.

There is one caveat to that: the "Unearthed Arcana" column dealing with Eberron was both incomplete and generally poorly-received. So, although it includes Warforged and Artificers, I may well have to work up an alternate version for these that better suits my vision of the campaign. If I do get a chance to do this, then that will be the approved version, and the UA one won't be available.

Actually, there's one more: the UA material provided by WotC is clearly labelled as work-in-progress. If they should produce an updated version of the same, then any character using that material will be expected to update accordingly. So if you find some wildly broken combination featuring the Shifter race and the WotC publish an updated, nerfed version, you're out of luck!

Ability Scores

Ability scores will be generated with my usual three-way choice. Each player gets to choose for him or herself:

• Random roll: 4d6-drop-lowest, arrange to suit. Reroll if your highest score is 13 or less, or if your net bonus works out as +1 or less. If you choose to roll, you need to do so in front of the group, and as soon as the first die lands you're committed to playing the character that results.
• Standard array: 16, 15, 13, 12, 10, 8.
• 28-point buy, using the following costs: 8/0, 9/1, 10/2, 11/3, 12/4, 13/5, 14/6, 15/8, 16/10, 17/13, 18/16.

Alignment

Don't bother. I won't be using it.

Evil Characters (and other anti-social types): You're responsible for playing your character, and if you're "just playing your character" then you're responsible for deciding that your character is like that. So, here it is: there are two ways to play a 'jerk' character, be it the evil character, the lawful-stupid Paladin, the thief who steals from the party, or whatever - you can either do so in a 'fun' way that improves the game for everyone else or you can do so in a 'jerk' way that is fun for you but ruins the game for everyone else. One of these is acceptable (even encouraged) while the other is not. Do you want to guess which one?

Personality Traits

Each 5e character has five role-playing features on the character sheet: two Traits, an Ideal, a Bond, and a Flaw. The PHB provides lots of examples for each of these, but ties them to the Backgrounds. However, for this campaign you can either use some of the examples given or make up your own, and they can be tied to your Background, or Race, or Class (or even alignment) as you wish.

Players can even choose not to define these aspects of the character if they choose, but in doing so they won't be able to use Inspiration (see below).

Note to Self: I need to come up with a dozen or so Bonds associated with the campaign to help PCs tie themselves to the storyline. A couple of new Backgrounds wouldn't be a bad thing, either.

Joining a Higher-Level Party

In the event that a new member joins the game late, or a fallen character is replaced, or even if one character is retired and a replacement brought in, the replacement will be generated as normal, except as follows:

1. The new character will be created at the lowest level in the current tier of play. The tiers are levels 1-4 (start at 1st level), 5-10 (start at 5th level), 11-16 (start at 11th level), and 17-20 (start at 17th level).
2. Characters start with equipment purchased from the PHB only. Characters created at 5th level or above may select any amount of such equipment, and start also with 1,000gp. However, they may not purchase magical items at this time.

Other Rules

Encumbrance

Yeah, I won't be using it. The minimum Strength scores associated with each armour type will be used, however.

Reputation

I'll be using the Reputation rules described in the previous post.

Note to self: Need to come up with the list of factions.

Inspiration

This one comes from the Angry GM.

Inspiration is tied into the five character traits you have (hopefully) defined at character creation. If you haven't defined those characteristics, you can't use Inspiration.

Inspiration is something you either have or you don't. You can't have "double inspiration", you can't bank it up, and there certainly aren't any "inspiration debts".

Starting Inspiration: All PCs start each session with Inspiration.

Using Inspiration: If you have inspiration, you can spend it on an Inspired Action. You can take an Inspired Action on your own behalf, to aid an ally in his task, or to spoil an enemy action. However, in the latter two cases, you need to describe how your involvement can aid or hinder the appropriate action. Furthermore, you need to explain how this action ties into one of your five character traits. (For example, if your Ideal is "I defend the weak" and you're fighting slavers, the connection should be obvious!)

If you use Inspiration on your own behalf, doing so cancels any Disadvantage you might be suffering and instead gives you Advantage on the roll. If you use Inspiration to aid another, then that character has Disadvantage cancelled and instead has Advantage. Finally, if you use it to oppose another character then the reverse is true: that character loses Advantage and instead suffers Disadvantage. (Note that these are all exceptions to the normal rule that Advantage and Disadvantage cancel one another out.)

Gaining Inspiration: If you don't have Inspiration you can gain it by Causing a Setback. This is done by describing how one of your traits (most commonly your Flaw) can work against you in the specific situation. If you do so, and assuming the DM agrees, you first cancel any Advantage that you have on the current roll and instead suffer Disadvantage. And then, whether the roll succeeds or not, you gain Inspiration. (Again, this is an exception to the normal rule that Advantage and Disadvantage cancel one another out.)

For example, a Paladin with the Ideal "I defend the weak" may be negotiating with a Duke who he observes bullying his servants. The player thus suggests he'll Cause a Setback by having his Paladin protest the Duke's behaviour. The player thus suffers Disadvantage on the resulting Charisma check for the negotiations, but gains Inspiration as a result.

Reputation Rules for 5e

This month's "RPG book" was the "Smuggler's Guide to the Rim" for the Firefly RPG. One of the new features introduced by this book was a set of reputation rules for the Firefly game. I have no intention of using these rules, because they add more complexity to a game that doesn't need it, but ironically I think they can be usefully adapted to D&D, and in particular to my upcoming campaign.

So, here's how I hope to do that:

Factions: First up, the DM will need to assemble a list of factions for the game, ideally about 4-6 of them. These can either be quite broad (criminals), or if the campaign has some specific factions in play then these can be used directly (House Sivis). (These two approaches can probably be combined, though they shouldn't overlap - don't have a criminals faction and a "Sharn Thieves' Guild" faction! The caveat is that where a faction is named specifically, that faction must be a key player in the campaign, where a broad faction can be assumed to be broadly applicable.) Normally, the list of factions should be made available to the players, though a secret faction or two could become apparent later.

Reputation Levels: A PC has a reputation level with each faction. This can be neutral (or unknown), positive, enhanced, or negative. A neutral reputation obviously has no effect, but each of the other levels has an effect when dealing with a member of that faction: when a PC with positive reputation deals with a member of that faction, he applies his Proficiency Bonus to all interaction skills (that is, most Charisma checks). This may also apply to some other checks - Knowledge and History being likely candidates. A PC with an enhanced reputation may apply his Proficiency Bonus and gains Advantage on the roll. Conversely, a PC with a negative reputation suffers Disadvantage on the roll.

A PC may only have enhanced reputation with one faction at a time. If he has the opportunity to gain enhanced reputation with a second faction, the first must be downgraded to merely positive reputation.

Dispositions: The above effects only apply when dealing with members of the faction directly. NPCs who are non-members may have a positive or negative disposition to one or more factions. For example, a Last War veteran may have a positive disposition towards House Jorasco but a negative disposition towards Aundair.

If a PC has a positive or enhanced reputation in a given faction and is dealing with an NPC with a positive disposition to that faction (but is not himself a member), that PC gains Advantage on interaction skills. Conversely, if a PC has a positive or enhanced reputation in a faction and is dealing with an NPC with a negative disposition to that faction, the PC suffers Disadvantage on interaction skills.

Starting Reputation: Most PCs start with neutral reputation to all factions. If the player wishes, his character may instead start with positive reputation with one faction at the cost of having negative reputation with one other.

Joining a Faction: More commonly, the first time a PC interacts positively with a significant member of a faction, that NPC may invite the PC to join the faction. In this case, the PC gains positive reputation with the faction.

Advancing Reputation: Reputation cannot be advanced at level-up or during downtime. Instead, it must be advance in-play by Staking Your Reputation.

When presented with an opportunity to perform some task on behalf of the faction, a PC may choose to Stake His Reputation. (In some cases, the faction will only agree to give a PC the mission, and the reward that goes with it, if he is willing to Stake His Reputation. So while it's a choice, it's not without consequences.) At this point, he should declare some specific outcome he will complete in this adventure (which needs to be agreed with the DM). For example, "I will recover the Book of Vile Darkness and turn it over to you."

If, during the course of the adventure, the PC completes this task, his reputation with the faction is increased by one step. Conversely, if the PC fails to complete the task, he must make a Charisma (usually Persuasion, usually DC 20) roll to explain why he has failed. If this roll fails, his reputation decreases by one step.

And that's basically it.

Building an Adventure: Strawberries

With the end of the competition season fast approaching, I'm hoping to get back to some gaming over the next few months. I'll need to be a bit careful with this - there's some other big stuff going on which means I can't get too obsessed - but I should be able to fit some sessions in.

The next session of "Firefly: the Lost Episodes" is also my first homebrew episode in the series. We've now played through the pre-gen adventure in the Core Rulebook and also the four in the "Thrillin' Heroics" compilation, and while I have another five pre-gen adventures queued up, plus half a dozen that can be converted from the old Serenity RPG, I'm keen to try out an adventure of my very own.

It's called "Strawberries".

Now, it's worth noting that I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here, as I can hardly spill all of the secrets of the adventure before I run it, now can I? However, I can talk a little about the process.

The Firefly pre-gen adventures all follow a specific format, which is actually quite handy for use. Specifically, they detail the premise of the adventure, then the cast of NPCs, then any key locations, and then the prologue, four acts, and epilogue of the adventure itself. Finally, there are a few notes about potential future adventures.

So...

Premise: "Strawberries" is mostly a character-driven piece. It's largely about how some of the Crew will react in a particular tense situation. Specifically, the PCs will be Wash, Kaylee, Book, River, and Simon (with Inara as a potential sixth). That is, the group specifically doesn't include any of the three 'leader' characters and the main fighters of the Crew.

Beyond that, it's pretty simple: bounty hunters have picked up their trail: what will they do?

(The tension in the group, then, should come from three sources: firstly, there's no clear leader to make the decisions. Secondly, there's a threat both, and immediately, to the PCs, but also to those "left behind" - Wash can't simply run for it, because that puts Zoe at risk. And, thirdly, it's not like they're going to get lots of time to come up with a detailed plan of action. There's a need to act, now!)

Cast of Characters: I'm actually not sure on this one. I know one of the key groups (spoilers!), but need to come up with a few others. And, in particular, I'll need to consider a few different possible responses to the threat.

Comings and Goings: The start of the adventure takes place in the Eavesdown Docks on Persephone. Beyond that, I think it's likely the action will mostly take place onboard Serenity herself. So that should be easy enough.

The Four Acts: This still needs detailed. As I said, I need to come up with at least a few possible solutions. And, in particular, my usual four-fold options: fight, evade, deceive, or negotiate. (Hmm... probably best to have at least two bounty hunter groups. That way the Crew can at least try to turn them against one another...)

Future Adventures: Truth is, I've found this section to be mostly useless in the published adventures, since the suggestions have been pretty basic and because better ideas have generally arisen during play. That being the case, I'm inclined just to skip this.

Anyway, that's a start. More later, perhaps...

The Fifth Edition DMG

I actually finished reading this some time ago, but somehow managed to forget to post about it. Oops.

The 5e DMG is the best 'main' DMG of any edition of D&D to date. And, since that's damning with faint praise, I'll also say: this is an extremely good DMG.

(The previous best DMG was the 1st Ed version, which still has some value. But the extremely idiosyncratic language used comes at the cost of obfuscating the meaning and impeding comprehension. High Gygaxian may make for an interesting read, but it's lousy for a manual intended for use. Conversely, the 2nd Ed DMG was almost totally devoid of useful content, and is worthwhile only for the magic item descriptions. Indeed, some of the DM advice provided by that book is not just unhelpful but is actively bad. The 3e version is okay, but did we really need quite so many pages about doors and walls? And then the 3.5e version took that same material, reorganised it badly, and added the broken Epic rules. Finally, the 4e version was long on triviality and then painfully short where detail was needed. All in all, then, the DMGs have been an unimpressive bunch.)

The 5e DMG has 9 chapters and 4 appendices. It opens with two chapters on being Master of Worlds: A World of Your Own and Creating a Multiverse. These reminded me, more than anything, of the 2nd Ed "Campaign Supplement and Catacomb Guide" - an extremely impressive book that in many ways is the missing half of the 2nd Ed DMG. Excellent stuff, and a good start.

Part Two is five chapters on being Master of Adventures. Unfortunately, this was where I hit my few caveats about the book. In both the discussion of Mystery adventures and also in creating NPCs, I found the book very good at stating the bleeding obvious, but painfully lacking on specifics. Which, sadly, was reminiscent of the 4e version. There are some hard-won lessons that veteran DMs pick up along the way, and that are ideal fodder for a DMG (allowing a new DM to skip the pain of learning them the hard way). For example, it reminds the DM to include lots of clues for a mystery (good), but could profitably have talked about the Three Clue Rule. (The TCR isn't holy writ, of course, but it's an extremely good rule of thumb... and exactly the sort of starting place a new DM would benefit from.)

My second caveat mostly concerns the placement of the magic items in the book - the items presented are pretty good, and there's a good range, but they'd have been much better placed at the back of the book, in a second appendix. This would allow a time-pressed DM to find them much more easily for later reference. A nitpick, perhaps, but something that bugged me.

Part Three is two chapters about being Master of Rules, and consists of two chapters. The first of these is additional applications and expansions of the existing rules, while the second is a grab-bag of optional rules and systems. The final chapter also guides the DM in developing new monsters, backgrounds, magic items, classes, and so forth. Really good stuff.

Finally, the Appendices detail Random Dungeons, give useful lists of monsters sorted in various ways (good, but should have been in the MM), a handful of maps, and a recommended reading list just for DMs. All good stuff, though sadly not matching the 1st Ed DMG appendices, which were far and away the highlights of that book.

One last caveat: the binding on my copy is already cracking, after just a read-through and no use in-game at all. A shame.

All in all, though, this is an excellent book, and highly recommended.

Some Final Thoughts on the 5e Core Rulebooks: All in all, I'm very impressed. 5e remains, probably, my second-favourite version of the game, but also the one I'm most likely to run going forward (since 3.5e is just so much work). Of the three books, the MM is my favourite, and yet it is only in the DMG that 5e has the best book out of the editions - an oddity largely caused by the 2nd Ed Monstrous Manual being so damn good.

The big thing that disappoints me about 5e is that it isn't getting the same wealth of supplements as the last three editions. I understand the business logic behind this, and indeed appreciate not feeling the need to pick up endless supplements. And yet, I would really like to see a second MM of the same quality as this one, and would very much like to see a full Eberron campaign guide (there's an article that converts some key elements for the new edition, but this is both incomplete and, IMO, a poor conversion).

Mostly, though, I'm very pleased with this new edition, and looking forward to running some games using it. With the caveat that I'm a little burned out on vanilla D&D at this stage, and may well enjoy Firefly more for the next little while. We'll see - I'm hoping to start up a new campaign in September, and that could obviously go either way...