Here's a question: what is the place of riddles in the game world? Should such things not exist at all for purposes of realism, should they be resolved with Int checks (or similar), or should the players have to figure out the solution?
Here's another question: what is the place of role-playing encounters in the game world? Should the players have to speak for their characters, or should they be resolved with Diplomacy checks (or similar)?
Realistically, puzzles and riddles should not exist. If I'm a highly-intelligent Solar building a refuge against intruders, I don't guard it with riddles, passwords and carefully-hidden locks. No, instead I set up a system where any attempt to enter activates the traps, and I throw away the keys. Likewise, the pharoah building a treasury for his kingdom would defend it with lethal traps, but would not provide convenient keys to enable robbers to disable or bypass those traps. After all, he wants to keep his stuff, and there's absolutely no reason anyone will ever have to gain access.
However, role-playing games are not an exercise in recreating reality (at least, for the most part). Very few players would actually want to play in a real-world game, since we already live here. Instead, these games are about adventures. We can envisage fireball-throwing wizards, despite physics. So, we can accept unrealistic puzzles. (Plus, we accept jumping puzzles in our computer games - though players don't really like them - so why not a role-playing equivalent?)
However, what is the right way to include puzzles? And how do we resolve role-playing encounters?
Firstly, in both cases, the best way to handle such encounters is for the players to have a shot at it first. So, present the riddle to the players, and let them have a go. Play out the role-playing encounter, and see what the players make of it (with the caveat that they have to play this one out in character. The puzzle they do not, since the party wizard is probably much smarter than the whole group put together, and anyway the point here is to challenge the players). If the players succeed, great, the game proceeds as normal (and see XP, later).
If the players don't get anywhere, or don't want to play through the encounter/solve the puzzle (or are just getting bored trying to solve it), you move on to the backup plan. In the case of a role-playing encounter, this is handled using the appropriate role-playing skills. So, in D&D you use a Bluff or Diplomacy roll. The group may or may not qualify for an XP award as a result of this. In the case of a puzzle, there are three cases. If the puzzle must be solved or the game is dead, assume that a time passes and then the group gets the answer. The DM should assess a certain amount of resources used in determining the answer (either in the form of divinations, sage fees, or items wasted in the course of figuring it out). If the puzzle does not need to be solved for the game to proceed (for instance, if it guards a secondary treasure vault), you can either have the players make a skill or Int check to gain clues, or to solve it outright, or you can simply rule that the group cannot get through the puzzle. Regardless, the group does not qualify for an XP award for a puzzle that is not solved.
It's also worth considering that 'solving' the puzzle does not necessarily mean finding the DM's one-true-solution. If the party instead disables the trap part, and then hacks their way through the door, they have 'solved' the puzzle, and get the XP. Likewise, any solution that works, even if it's not the DM's preferred answer, should be accepted. Basically, players should be rewarded for clever thinking, never penalised.
Determining the XP award for a role-playing encounter or a puzzle can be pretty awkward. Since players don't gain levels, and so ranks in the 'puzzles' skill, the same puzzle can generally be used at 1st level and 20th level. Likewise, the typical role-playing encounter will be as 'difficult' at 1st level as at 20th.
However, the consequences of failure are likely not the same at 1st level as at 20th. And these should provide a guide as to the XP award. Typically, a puzzle should be backed up by a trap or other consequence (otherwise, the party can just hack their way through). If this trap drains the party of 20% of their resources, this constitutes a CR equal to the party level. If successfully opening the doors in the beholder's lair drains resources, this should also be factored in.
For the most part, traps, puzzles and role-playing encounters should all be at around the party's level. 'Normal' operation should drain the party of about 20% of their resources. If the party is very successfuly, or fails spectacularly, this should change, and perhaps wildly, but for the most part, that's how it should run.
There is one more thing to say about puzzles and the issue of realism. A large part of the reason for the existence of such things is to emulate the sort of treasure hunting seen in the Indiana Jones movies. What seems to be forgotten, though, is that those movies don't rely on solving the puzzles in situ. Instead, Dr Jones goes through painstaking preparation for his adventures, that largely isn't shown, gaining the tools to solve the puzzle. It's also worth noting that the puzzles he solves are not designed to hide something away so it can never be found - in all three cases the puzzles hide secrets that are meant to be found by the right people. The Holy Grail is hidden away and guarded, yes, but it is also intended to be found at some later time.
Role-playing games typically suffer in this regard. Usually, a puzzle is presented at the time it is expected to be solved. Instead, if we're emulating the genre, emphasis should be placed on building puzzles that fit the setting, on building up the character's Knowledge skills, and on finding the clues before assaulting the lost temple of doom.
For example, consider a Gnomish bardic school teaching jokes and language. The party might first learn that there are three ways in - a heavily guarded front door, a tradesman's entrance in the back (now destroyed), and a secret underground path used for testing new initiates. They can then look for the first clue - where does this underground path start? Then, having gotten in some way, they come to a hall with inscriptions on two opposite walls, and slate on the wall in between. The first wall has the start of six really bad puns in six different languages. The opposite wall has the inscription 122334455661. The key, then, is to complete each joke in the language in which the next joke is begun. And so it goes.
Conversely, if the characters are to invade a tomb designed never to be penetrated by robbers, the key here is to find those clues that do exist. For instance, the original designers might have left notes, which can be found. Previous tomb robbers might have made it a certain distance before turning back. In this instance, there shouldn't be puzzles that a smart character can get through. There shouldn't be passwords, hidden keys, or whatever. We're trying to keep everyone out, so the tomb should be built accordingly. Nonetheless, there should be clues to find, to help 'figure it out' - just not things that can be determined on the spot.
(Oh, and some clues, such as "only the penitent man shall pass", should either give a bonus to the Disable Device roll, a bonus on a save vs. the trap, or should just allow the character to bypass the trap altogether.)
Tuesday, 10 May 2005
Monday, 9 May 2005
She's my sister/accountant/mail-order ninja!
I've been thinking about character backgrounds again.
The perceived wisdom is that a 'good' character background should answer such questions as: what family does the character have? who were your parents? where are they now? do you have any siblings? are you married?
And so on.
On the other hand, if one looks at shows like Buffy/Angel, Star Trek, Babylon 5, and the like, which tend to have a lot of wisdom to offer RPGs, they tend not to have fully developed character backgrounds from day one. There is always some flexibility, so that you can introduce new characters. Suddenly, Angel has vampires whom he has sired. Troi's mother shows up (and a hundred fans cry out in dismay). Sheridan just happens to have an ex-wife who can come in and replace Ivanova.
Perhaps the quest when creating backgrounds should be to aim for a comfortable middle ground. Where something is important to the character, it needs stated, of course (we need to know that Giles is a Watcher from England, that Wesley's father died under Picard's command, and that Garibaldi has been bounced from one job to the next). When something isn't important, though, it should probably be left blank.
This allows the player to bring in elements that he hadn't thought of at day one (oh, yes, my father had business dealings with the Knights of Malice. Perhaps one of his friends can sponsor my petition for entry?). It gives hooks for new PCs to come in (Your brothers are dead. I've been sent to take you home for the funeral.). And it give the DM all sorts of leeway for evil plots (Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father...).
Of course, there need to be some ground rules:
1) The player can't bring in something relevant to the current situation without DM approval. It's one thing for a character's merchant father to have had shady dealings in the past; it's entirely another for that character's father to have saved the life of the crime-boss who is in the process of roasting the rest of the party.
2) The DM shouldn't be consistently evil when using the empty spaces. Otherwise, next time the player will either provide a background with no empty spaces, or will just not have a background at all.
The perceived wisdom is that a 'good' character background should answer such questions as: what family does the character have? who were your parents? where are they now? do you have any siblings? are you married?
And so on.
On the other hand, if one looks at shows like Buffy/Angel, Star Trek, Babylon 5, and the like, which tend to have a lot of wisdom to offer RPGs, they tend not to have fully developed character backgrounds from day one. There is always some flexibility, so that you can introduce new characters. Suddenly, Angel has vampires whom he has sired. Troi's mother shows up (and a hundred fans cry out in dismay). Sheridan just happens to have an ex-wife who can come in and replace Ivanova.
Perhaps the quest when creating backgrounds should be to aim for a comfortable middle ground. Where something is important to the character, it needs stated, of course (we need to know that Giles is a Watcher from England, that Wesley's father died under Picard's command, and that Garibaldi has been bounced from one job to the next). When something isn't important, though, it should probably be left blank.
This allows the player to bring in elements that he hadn't thought of at day one (oh, yes, my father had business dealings with the Knights of Malice. Perhaps one of his friends can sponsor my petition for entry?). It gives hooks for new PCs to come in (Your brothers are dead. I've been sent to take you home for the funeral.). And it give the DM all sorts of leeway for evil plots (Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father...).
Of course, there need to be some ground rules:
1) The player can't bring in something relevant to the current situation without DM approval. It's one thing for a character's merchant father to have had shady dealings in the past; it's entirely another for that character's father to have saved the life of the crime-boss who is in the process of roasting the rest of the party.
2) The DM shouldn't be consistently evil when using the empty spaces. Otherwise, next time the player will either provide a background with no empty spaces, or will just not have a background at all.
Sunday, 8 May 2005
Large Scale Events
In "Foundations of Flame", the city in which the campaign is set needs to be evacuated. This sounds like a job for the heroes! But, how to model such things in an RPG?
The key to modelling large events (evacuating the city, the siege of Helm's Deep, the attack on the Death Star, and so on) is to recognise that RPGs are closer to film than to reality. (Okay, I'll take that back. Some RPGs, notably D&D, are closer to film than to reality.) This means that we have a small number of characters whom we care about (PCs), a small number of notable NPCs, and a large number of faceless NPCs whom we don't care about, except in the abstract. If you were filming the battle of Helm's Deep, you wouldn't spend a lot of time on the actions of warrior #112 as he fires arrow after arrow at the orcs, then engages in hand-to-hand combat, and then dies a pointless and unremarkable death. No, you would have a bunch of fighting montages showing these events, interspersed with scenes of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli kicking ass, and trying to turn the tide, or at least hold the line.
The other thing to bear in mind is that you want the important characters to be at the centre of the action, not calling the shots from behind the scenes. In the above example, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are the PCs, but Haldir and Theoden are not. They are important NPCs, but they are not the centre of the action. Similarly, in a massed battle, the PCs are Ajax, Hector and Achillies, not Agamemnon.
So, how to model a large-scale event?
Firstly, the preparation. The key here is to consider what forces are involved, and how they are opposed. So, we have 300 humans and elves (yes, I'm including the elves because Haldir is going to become important later on) versus 10,000 orcs. The humans have the walls of Helm's Deep, the orcs have siege towers, explosive devices, and so on. Or, you have the eastern USA, a fault line and two nuclear devices versus Superman.
Next, consider the timeline, assuming the PCs do nothing. So, if Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli don't intervene, the orcs break down the walls in 6 hours. 2 hours after that, Gandalf arrives with the Rohirrim, but can't do anything to help. Likewise, if Superman doesn't act, a huge portion of the eastern USA falls into the ocean, the world suffers calamitous damage, and Lex Luthor becomes obscenely wealthy.
Now, consider what the PCs are going to do to help. Now, firstly, and obviously, they're going to oppose the orcs the same as anyone else. They will array their forces as best they can, use ever advantage they have available, and so on. In fact, since the players aren't, by and large, experts in fantasy warfare, it can be taken as read that they will do a better job of arraying the forces than the players would.
But you only show Superman rescuing a cat from a tree once. By that I mean, if the PCs can be assumed to do something, but it isn't very exciting, you just narrate a bit of boxed text about their actions, and move on. There's no need to linger on this.
Instead, you try to think up several scenes where the PCs can make a difference. Consider also the role of unimportant NPCs in this. They probably can't help, but their presence does change the situation somewhere. So, is there an enemy champion for the PCs to fight? In that case, show the champion cutting a swathe through the allies of the PCs. If there's a building on fire, allow the PCs to motivate NPCs for form a bucket line. Just make sure the PCs have to act as well - otherwise we're back to cat stuck in tree territory.
Having generated a bunch of scenes, it's necessary to work out how they affect the adventure as a whole. In this regard, "Foundations of Flame" had a useful system, where each sector of the city required a certain number of "Evacuation Points" to clear, and each scene was worth a number of points. So, assign each encounter a number of points, establish a set of victory conditions, and have at it.
Returning to Helm's Deep, if we say that orcs need 100 Siege Points to break down the wall. We'll assume that they gain 18 points per hour, so after 6 hours they have 108 points. We'll assume also that after 8 hours the Rohirrim will arrive with the dawn, and all will be well. Then, we decide what the PCs can do to help. Well, Aragorn's comments to the boy about hope (and similar words to the rest of the troops) counts for something. The scene where they shore up the gate by holding off the enemy is worth something. The last rally, when the Horn of Helm Hammerhand sounds once again is worth something. And so on. The idea is that the battle will be lost anyway, but by the actions of the PCs, they hold out just long enough.
When running the adventure, you put all this together as follows: You run a number of montages of general events. The armies trade fire. The PCs load carts, gather gaurds and send them out, or rescue cats from trees. In between montages, you have a mixture of key encounters, and scenes showing the fate of key NPCs. So, you see Hector and Achillies (actually, Patrocles) fighting. You see Superman stopping the rocket. Aragorn tosses Gimli across to the bridge. And, as time passes, you keep track of the event counters.
You should also take the time to show the fate of key NPCs. So, Theoden and his guys draw their swords and go to the front. You don't roll dice, just show this. You similarly narrate the fall of Haldir to the orcs. You comment about how Red 6 gets blown out of the sky. In this regard, it helps if you have a cast of NPCs, both liked and hated, whom the players know. And, sometimes, the fate of an NPC can be affected by a PC's actions. Boba Fett might be killed due to the actions of Han. Or, sometimes there's nothing that can be done. Aragorn isn't in a position to save Haldir. The DM gets to choose this.
There are two rules regarding NPC fates: if the PCs can change the fate of an NPC, you have to let the result stand, whether it's what you want or not. Conversely, if a character has a name, you have to show him die, even in a cut-scene.
As regards the question of XP awards, there are three options:
Under option 1, the large scale event could be considered something that the PCs just have to deal with, and therefore they only get XP for what they do (so, if they fight the enemy champion, they get XP for him, but they don't get an award for saving cats from trees, or whatever). This has the advantage of keeping the PCs' treasure total on a par with their level, which can be beneficial.
Under option 2, the PCs get a fixed award for success in the adventure as a whole. Perhaps the townsfolk grant the heroes a huge reward for saving them, and the DM gives out enough XP to increase them by a level or so. This has the advantage of being really simple.
Option 3 is perhaps the best. Each encounter has an XP award, which is modified by how well the PCs do. So, if they rescue the man from the burning building, they get an award, if they put out the fire, but the man dies, they get a lesser award. This is probably best, but is likely to leave the PCs low on treasure. However, this is probably best compensated by greater awards in previous and future adventures. Or, perhaps the towsfolk just give them an award...
And that's about that. Suggestions? Comments?
The key to modelling large events (evacuating the city, the siege of Helm's Deep, the attack on the Death Star, and so on) is to recognise that RPGs are closer to film than to reality. (Okay, I'll take that back. Some RPGs, notably D&D, are closer to film than to reality.) This means that we have a small number of characters whom we care about (PCs), a small number of notable NPCs, and a large number of faceless NPCs whom we don't care about, except in the abstract. If you were filming the battle of Helm's Deep, you wouldn't spend a lot of time on the actions of warrior #112 as he fires arrow after arrow at the orcs, then engages in hand-to-hand combat, and then dies a pointless and unremarkable death. No, you would have a bunch of fighting montages showing these events, interspersed with scenes of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli kicking ass, and trying to turn the tide, or at least hold the line.
The other thing to bear in mind is that you want the important characters to be at the centre of the action, not calling the shots from behind the scenes. In the above example, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are the PCs, but Haldir and Theoden are not. They are important NPCs, but they are not the centre of the action. Similarly, in a massed battle, the PCs are Ajax, Hector and Achillies, not Agamemnon.
So, how to model a large-scale event?
Firstly, the preparation. The key here is to consider what forces are involved, and how they are opposed. So, we have 300 humans and elves (yes, I'm including the elves because Haldir is going to become important later on) versus 10,000 orcs. The humans have the walls of Helm's Deep, the orcs have siege towers, explosive devices, and so on. Or, you have the eastern USA, a fault line and two nuclear devices versus Superman.
Next, consider the timeline, assuming the PCs do nothing. So, if Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli don't intervene, the orcs break down the walls in 6 hours. 2 hours after that, Gandalf arrives with the Rohirrim, but can't do anything to help. Likewise, if Superman doesn't act, a huge portion of the eastern USA falls into the ocean, the world suffers calamitous damage, and Lex Luthor becomes obscenely wealthy.
Now, consider what the PCs are going to do to help. Now, firstly, and obviously, they're going to oppose the orcs the same as anyone else. They will array their forces as best they can, use ever advantage they have available, and so on. In fact, since the players aren't, by and large, experts in fantasy warfare, it can be taken as read that they will do a better job of arraying the forces than the players would.
But you only show Superman rescuing a cat from a tree once. By that I mean, if the PCs can be assumed to do something, but it isn't very exciting, you just narrate a bit of boxed text about their actions, and move on. There's no need to linger on this.
Instead, you try to think up several scenes where the PCs can make a difference. Consider also the role of unimportant NPCs in this. They probably can't help, but their presence does change the situation somewhere. So, is there an enemy champion for the PCs to fight? In that case, show the champion cutting a swathe through the allies of the PCs. If there's a building on fire, allow the PCs to motivate NPCs for form a bucket line. Just make sure the PCs have to act as well - otherwise we're back to cat stuck in tree territory.
Having generated a bunch of scenes, it's necessary to work out how they affect the adventure as a whole. In this regard, "Foundations of Flame" had a useful system, where each sector of the city required a certain number of "Evacuation Points" to clear, and each scene was worth a number of points. So, assign each encounter a number of points, establish a set of victory conditions, and have at it.
Returning to Helm's Deep, if we say that orcs need 100 Siege Points to break down the wall. We'll assume that they gain 18 points per hour, so after 6 hours they have 108 points. We'll assume also that after 8 hours the Rohirrim will arrive with the dawn, and all will be well. Then, we decide what the PCs can do to help. Well, Aragorn's comments to the boy about hope (and similar words to the rest of the troops) counts for something. The scene where they shore up the gate by holding off the enemy is worth something. The last rally, when the Horn of Helm Hammerhand sounds once again is worth something. And so on. The idea is that the battle will be lost anyway, but by the actions of the PCs, they hold out just long enough.
When running the adventure, you put all this together as follows: You run a number of montages of general events. The armies trade fire. The PCs load carts, gather gaurds and send them out, or rescue cats from trees. In between montages, you have a mixture of key encounters, and scenes showing the fate of key NPCs. So, you see Hector and Achillies (actually, Patrocles) fighting. You see Superman stopping the rocket. Aragorn tosses Gimli across to the bridge. And, as time passes, you keep track of the event counters.
You should also take the time to show the fate of key NPCs. So, Theoden and his guys draw their swords and go to the front. You don't roll dice, just show this. You similarly narrate the fall of Haldir to the orcs. You comment about how Red 6 gets blown out of the sky. In this regard, it helps if you have a cast of NPCs, both liked and hated, whom the players know. And, sometimes, the fate of an NPC can be affected by a PC's actions. Boba Fett might be killed due to the actions of Han. Or, sometimes there's nothing that can be done. Aragorn isn't in a position to save Haldir. The DM gets to choose this.
There are two rules regarding NPC fates: if the PCs can change the fate of an NPC, you have to let the result stand, whether it's what you want or not. Conversely, if a character has a name, you have to show him die, even in a cut-scene.
As regards the question of XP awards, there are three options:
Under option 1, the large scale event could be considered something that the PCs just have to deal with, and therefore they only get XP for what they do (so, if they fight the enemy champion, they get XP for him, but they don't get an award for saving cats from trees, or whatever). This has the advantage of keeping the PCs' treasure total on a par with their level, which can be beneficial.
Under option 2, the PCs get a fixed award for success in the adventure as a whole. Perhaps the townsfolk grant the heroes a huge reward for saving them, and the DM gives out enough XP to increase them by a level or so. This has the advantage of being really simple.
Option 3 is perhaps the best. Each encounter has an XP award, which is modified by how well the PCs do. So, if they rescue the man from the burning building, they get an award, if they put out the fire, but the man dies, they get a lesser award. This is probably best, but is likely to leave the PCs low on treasure. However, this is probably best compensated by greater awards in previous and future adventures. Or, perhaps the towsfolk just give them an award...
And that's about that. Suggestions? Comments?
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