3 Easy Fixes for Classic Adventure Pitfalls

I’m prepping for a Dragonbane game, using the campaign from the great boxed set. I love the campaign seed, which involves the game’s iconic powers, dragons and demons. The goal is to explore a valley and stop an evil plot centuries in the making.

Dragonbane is based on the 1980s Swedish RPG, Drakar och Demoner (Dragons and Demons), first published in 1982 by Target Games (Äventyrsspel).

Free League has created a fantastic new version that I would call D&D 5E light.

CharGen

Character creation is quick.

  • Choose Kin (race) and get an Innate Ability.
  • Choose Profession and get your Key Attribute, starting Heroic Ability, and 6 Trained Skills.
  • Choose Profession Gear, roll starting silver, roll a Memento.
  • Roll for Age and get Attribute Modifiers and additional Skills.
  • Roll or assign your Attributes and Derived Stats, such as Hit Points and Willpower Points.

Takes about five minutes.

There are lots of skills, which I like. 30 main skills, and several weapon and magic secondary skills.

GM Pit Traps

However, some things I’m reading in the adventures aren’t my jam. I’m not too far in yet, but we’ve already got some classic GM Pit Traps.

Scripted Start

The game begins with characters encountering a dying agent who gives them a MacGuffin and some clues. The agent is scripted to die. And we all know players will try to intervene with First Aid and other attempts to save him.

As the agent must part ways with life, I’m noodling on some options:

  1. That’s Just the Way It Is. Ye olde Impassable Mountains to the North, Impenetrable Forest to the South. Nothing players do saves the agent. Easily explained because the agent is badly poisoned.
  2. In Medias Res. I’m thinking of going with this one. I describe the scene, dole out the clues, have him pass on, and then start the game and begin player agency.
  3. Fail Forward. Let players roll for whatever actions they take. Successes result in the agent still dying, but he coughs out a couple additional clues.

This is a minor quibble, but I think it’s good to be prepared for player tricks.

Can’t Touch This

Further on in the first adventure is a random encounters table. Good stuff here, but one of them involves the party seeing a demon bat with a note on its leg. No description of what the note says. At the end, the encounter reads, “The bat is impossible to catch.”

With that kind of hook, we just know players are going to do everything in their power to get that note. Bows come out, a race through the streets with the fastest PC, perhaps a clever use of a spell.

And Murphy’s Law says one player’s going to get a Dragon roll (a critical success).

So again, this is a simple fix but worth catching and prepping contingencies.

I’m thinking of:

  1. Mirror. The note contains details about one of the characters or party in general. New ones arrived. Inexperienced, gullible. Will recruit. This will get players on edge and be easy to improvise.
  2. Cipher. Put a real clue in the note but encode it to present a fun puzzle.
  3. Cursed and Guarded. A magic seal hints opening the note results in a nasty magical curse. While the party decides what to do, thugs attack and attempt to steal the note. Both great stalling tactics.

Too Much Information

A third GM pit trap is an NPC at home base having an “inexhaustible” knowledge of history. The NPC is intended to be an ally or resource. I don’t like infinite lore spigots. The book provides a dozen rumours to be used in cases like this, which is fantastic. But Mr. Lore could easily use those up and leave nothing left for other NPCs to share.

So I’ll put some guardrails around him so players can’t persuade, beat, or trick the entire plot out of me. Perhaps he’s paranoid or only lucid for short periods. Or better, he demands a favour for each major info nugget, pacing out his knowledge. I could also have him convey false lore.

However, I’m leaning towards mining the rest of the adventure and expanding the rumours table in Campaign Logger. That gives players more stuff to worry about while expanding the sandbox’s hooks to keep the party exploring.

Dragons & Demons

As you can see, these are minor quibbles. And maybe I misread something. But always good stuff to look out for when reading or prepping any adventure.

I’m looking forward to running Dragonbane. I haven’t read the magic and monster chapters yet, but combat offers tactical options without complexity, I like games with lots of skills, and the campaign looks like it’ll be a ton of fun.

Have you tried Dragonbane? If so, what do you think?

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!

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