Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #324
How To Get More From Your Monsters - Part 2
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
How To Get More From Your Monsters - Part 2
- It's Never Exactly As The Manual Says
- It's Never Just Another Kill
- The Loot Is Never A Neat Pile Of Coins
Readers' Tips Summarized
- Have An Alignment Talk With Your Players
From: Xen and the People of the DM Advice List
- Storing Dragonscale And Other Counters
From: Jeff Wilder
- Tracking Bonus EXPs
From: Henry J. Oliver III
- Transporting Fantasy PCs To A Modern World
From: JF
- The Ten Commandments Of Character Construction
From: Mike Bourke
- Standing Orders
From: Tommi Brander
- Standing Orders For PBeM
From: K. Amaloo
RuneQuest Core Rulebook
Designed to bring the original RuneQuest up to the 21st
Century, this main rulebook contains all you need to explore
the many fantasy worlds possible with RuneQuest. As well as
character creation, the RuneQuest Core Rulebook provides
full rules for skills, cults/guilds, combat, adventuring,
monsters and Rune Magic, the first magic system introduced
for the latest edition of RuneQuest. Eminently expandable to
any fantasy setting, RuneQuest is supported in 2006 by
Mongoose Publishing with the Glorantha and Lankhmar worlds,
while other publishers are free to introduce their own
settings, due to the Open Content licence available for the
game.
RuneQuest Core Rulebook at RPG Shop
Return to Contents
A Brief Word From Johnn
The Darkness That Comes Before
I read this book, by fellow Canadian Scott Bakker, while on
holidays. It's an excellent read. It doesn't follow your
standard fantasy cliches, but goes in its own direction.
There are a few characters you follow through the story, but
it doesn't use a boy-becomes-king, or central character type
of plot. I think this is an excellent book to inspire world
builders.
R. Scott Bakker
I'm thinking of darting off a few questions to the author.
Are there any questions you've always wanted to ask a
published fantasy author?
Back-Up Your Stuff
A quick reminder to backup all your computer data. Now. :)
Can't Wait For September
My campaign went on hiatus over the summer, but it's
starting up again soon. Yippee! I'm running the classic
Temple of Elemental Evil campaign, updated to 3rd edition
D&D thanks to conversion library at ENWorld.
The PCs have just cleared out the Moathouse, though Lareth
escaped their wrath...this time. What will the PCs do next?
Guess I'll find out next session. Personally, I think they
should pool all their gold and build a statue of me in the
center of Hommlet, but hey, it's their money.
Cheers,
Johnn Four,
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
Return to Contents
Elements of Magic - Revised
The revised edition of the bestselling d20 sourcebook is
finally here! Elements of Magic opens the world of magic to
you, letting you create almost any type of magic-user you'd
like. Elements of Magic is modular, able to fit whatever
role you want it to play. It can be added to existing
campaigns, or it can replace existing magic systems,
providing a whole new feel to your fantasy gaming.
Elements of Magic eliminates the spell memorization and
preparation system entirely, replacing it with something
bold, new and flexible.
Elements of Magic - Revised at En World
Return to Contents
How To Get More From Your Monsters - Part 2
By Andrew H.
Many of the following tips have been suggested before over
the years, in this column, in gaming magazines, and
elsewhere. I hope this will be a practical spin on them that
will enable any game master to turn a single adventure into
a whole campaign. I have used these techniques in my
campaigns and found them to be effective.
Return to Contents
1. It's Never Exactly As The Manual Says
If human intelligence is normal and we have such a huge
range of intelligences, from Not Able To Function In Society
to Supra Genius, why shouldn't the monsters too?
Every other human attribute also varies by just as much. Why
should the next Gengen be normal? Maybe it will be stronger,
smarter, or quicker than normal, but the least likely
encounter should be just normal!
The aim of this method is surprise and shock value. Even if
your players know the name and the manual game stats of your
monsters, they won't know what's in store for them.
Give your monsters an unusual choice in weapons, an
unexpected strategy or battle plan, greater or lesser
strength, and so on. If a monster's capabilities have been
reduced, what strategy has it found to survive? Remember
that these oddities may be worth more experience if the
players overcome them. After all, the players' true reward
for playing is fun, adventure, and achievement.
Motivation and ideology vary perhaps even more than
descriptive characteristics. Think of all the motivations
humans have and vary your monsters just as much. Given some
smarts, why can't the Thorgordrin learn to gain experience
and skills like the players? It's no longer just a
Thorgordrin; it's a 10th level warrior/thief Thorgordrin.
The extra work involved in this method is a more thought
(and notes) from the GM. Rather than having one set of
figures for all 20 members of the patrol, you may need 20
different stat blocks. This could take a few more seconds or
an extra half hour.
It is possible to run a campaign where the players battle
just one type of enemy, such as for a war front type of
setting. At first, they battle the weakest members of a
tribe; those sent out to do menial jobs the strong and
powerful can't be bothered with. Then the players graduate
to stronger tribe members, each having different tactics and
methods. After gaining power and prestige, the PCs
progressively face stronger and smarter tribes, each tribe
having markedly different strategies and abilities. Finally,
the PCs face the warlord(s).
How This Worked For Me
I often use non-standard game stats for specific monsters.
One time, the players faced a particularly intelligent and
charismatic hobgoblin king (charismatic to other hobgoblins,
at least). They carefully avoided battle with him, never
realizing that he was physically and martially (combat
skills) weak. He ruled with intelligence, cunning, and
hobgoblin charm. He effectively and ruthlessly silenced any
opposition, and was greatly feared. However, if the party
had launched a straight out attack, they would have found
his bodyguards difficult but the warlord to be a pushover.
Role play won over hack and slash.
Players will appreciate the extra variety, mystery, and
realism this tip can bring to your games, especially if
(have I mentioned this before?) they are rewarded with bonus
experience for surmounting each different challenge.
Adventure Hooks
- A tribe of relatively weak monsters is now led by a highly
intelligent and cunning chieftain. How will this change
their behavior and motivations? Maybe they no longer raid
for food and gold, but for tactical information.
- The tribal fiends have an adventuring party composed of
above-average individuals who are adventuring in human lands
for loot, fame, and experience. They could be quite an
adversary for any party. As the players gain levels and
power, so too might the enemy.
- The party is hired to slay the enemy champion before he
can inspire his kin to war. The PCs would have to find this
champion, defeat him, and escape alive.
Return to Contents
2. It's Never Just Another Kill
A monster isn't interested in a fair fight. It will set
traps; use overwhelming numbers, poison, or missile weapons
to advantage; and run when the odds are against it. Too many
combats boil down to "walk into the room, fight to the
death, earn the experience," especially in game systems that
encourage experience rewards for a kill only. Fights to the
death should be the exception rather than the rule. Most
fights should be to the pain, the first wound, or until the
first chance to flee or surrender. The aim of this policy is
to give players more chances for victory, particularly at
low levels (see below), and monsters more chances to become
enduring foes.
Wounded monsters should flee, but not into a dead end where
they will become easy prey for the players. They flee deeper
into their own territory, which they know better than the
PCs. They might know what moss or local remedy to use on
wounds and so might heal quicker than the PCs expect. They
might use an underground river, waterfall, peat bog, or
swamp to evade the PCs.
Think of those old movies where the clever prisoner wades
down a stream bed to elude tracking dogs, backtracks to
confuse skilled trackers, lays false trails, and so on. Any
cunning monster should be capable of the same, especially
one in fear of its life. If its movement rate is not as good
as the PCs, so escape would normally be difficult, it might
try to slow the group down. Can it move over a particular
terrain type better than the characters?
It might try to wound, not kill, so that the party has to
stop and treat the wounded, to give it more time to make a
getaway. Why should the monster take the extra time to
finish off a PC when that will mean getting caught and
possibly killed by the rest of the party? Surely it would
rather wound and make a run for it. Have the monster behave
as if it were your own beloved character, whom you
desperately want to survive to fight another day.
How This Worked For Me
The one that got away became the villain that dogged the PCs
for years to come. They came to groan every time it looked
like she was behind some plot yet again, but I know they
liked it. It added to my enjoyment, anyway. :)
Players will appreciate this approach if they get suitable
experience points for their victories, and also because this
strategy can often allow players to survive serious wounding
and other situations that otherwise might have led to death.
Both the players and the GM win. The players get to survive,
earn experience, and learn from their mistakes. The GM now
has a monster on the loose who has also gained experience
from the encounter. Even if your game system does not
specifically allow for monsters to gain experience from
their encounters, I recommend this method to you.
Adventure Hooks
- The small goblinoid takes the loot and flees into the
overgrown forest. The party follows along a path, requiring
them to crawl through (or waste days hacking through). The
small monster leads the party into a den of bears, a
scouting party of fiends, or some other mischief. The PCs
need to overcome the new threat and find the monster with
the loot.
- Only one orc escapes the battle. She was an orcish camp
follower, pregnant with a litter of baby orcs, but, as she
escaped, she vowed revenge on the humans that had slain the
father of her children and despoiled her tribe. In time, she
learns the skills to advance as a fighter and thief and
becomes a real problem to the players - as do her offspring.
- Fiends raid the party at night. They are defeated, but at
least one fleeing fiend has taken something valuable. Which
one shall the party chase and how far will they chase it?
Return to Contents
3. The Loot Is Never A Neat Pile Of Coins
In any society most of the value anyone owns is in hard-to-
carry items, such as furniture, clothing, housing, animals,
stores of useful items, and so on. Make the players work to
get the lair full of antique furniture back to town and then
have them realize they need to get it to a large city to get
its full value.
The aim of this ploy is to make the players go that extra
mile to get their hard-earned reward into a more bankable
form. They will appreciate actual coins all the more. In
lower level adventures, the weapons used by the monsters
could be the most valuable items to be had. Maybe the only
treasure in the lair is the stores of food and supplies the
monsters were hoarding. Maybe they were raiding merchant
caravans for cloth, which their skilled seamstresses could
make into clothing to be sold for a profit.
Intelligent monsters might have marketable skills, which
they may be using to create wealth. Maybe the goblins are
raiding because they want quality forged tools with which to
dig more tunnels, in which case the loot is several cart
loads of tools that weigh several tons and will bring only a
moderate, second-hand price.
This gives GMs extra reward flexibility. If you were a
little too generous in the adventure design, then see that
they don't get the price they wanted at market.
The extra work involved in this ploy will be listing the
loot, rather than just noting 2000 gp. Also, you can expand
your adventure with anything from a bit more thought for the
furniture to designing the thieves guild/bandit enclave that
steal the valuables away from the players.
How This Worked For Me
The players found a rich haul in a wizard's lair, but by the
time they got it back to the nearest town it was only a good
haul. Once traded at market and auction houses, they only
got a modest return on their labors. However, since they had
achieved the one thing they had been striving for, the
wizard's book of arcane spells, they were still happy. And
miserly old me, I was even happier: I had advanced the plot
without giving them too much.
Players will appreciate the extra realism this brings to the
game once they get into the habit of (at least at low
levels) thinking of any saleable items as loot.
Adventure Hooks
- After winning the battle, the players realize they need to
get a large cart or two from town just to haul the loot.
They have to go back to town, rent, buy, or steal some
carts, get back to the lair, load, and then safely transport
it all back to town. Then they have to sell it for the best
price they can, all without having it stolen, being attacked
by bandits, conned by cunning persons, or damaged by
careless handling.
- The loot attracts several con artists to the party's new
found wealth. A clever con man might open a bank in the
village to cater to its new elite.
- Some local merchants decide they can sell the players'
second rate goods and pocket the extra profit. After all,
the adventurers probably won't be staying around for long.
- Thieves. Don't forget thieves; some members of the party
might even be thieves.
* * *
Any of the points made in both parts of this article can be
the core of an adventure in itself. The key to using these
ideas successfully is to find ways the players can continue
to gain experience during these parts of the campaign. Award
bonuses for clever thinking, avoiding problems, solving
problems, or dealing with wandering monsters. Give
experience for driving the monster off or for defeating it,
rather than just for a kill. Always be prepared to let the
players try some approach you have not considered before. It
empowers them in the game setting and can lead to great
things you would never have though of on your own.
If you have gone to the trouble of designing an adventure,
then with these articles' ideas you can expand that one
adventure into a whole campaign. We have only considered
some aspects of the actual monster, the encounter, and the
loot. We have not yet thought about the politics of the
local town, duchy, kingdom, nation, religion, and more. Use
these points to turn a single encounter into an adventure, a
single adventure into a campaign. Politics, trade, and
religion can turn your campaign, built around one actual
adventure, into a world of mystery, intrigue and fun.
Return to Contents
Campaign Planner 3
This sequel to the popular Campaign Planner and Campaign
Planner 2 presents a new selection of forms perfect for D20
System campaigns.
This PDF includes: Spell and psionic power forms. Feat and
skill forms. Weather generation/tracking forms. Character
starvation/thirst and suffocation/drowning form. Core and
prestige class forms. A form the DM can hand to players at
the end of a game session so that they can give their
opinions on the game and help guide future sessions. Forms
for spell components, action points, urban event templates,
and more!
Campaign Planner 3 at En World
Readers' Tips Of The Week:
1. Have An Alignment Talk With Your Players
From: Xen and the People of the DM Advice List
When my players choose alignments (even good ones) they
have to discuss their character's personality with me.
A lot of times new players have the wrong idea about
alignments and pick one totally wrong for the character
they want to play.
For instance, I've had several players who wanted to be evil
characters so that they wouldn't have to listen to
authority. Once I explained to them that chaotic was the
alignment they were looking for, most dropped the evil part.
Very few players want to play characters who are truly going
to be evil. Most just want to be able to do whatever they
desire without having to worry about consequences, and in
those cases, a paladin or cleric isn't the right class for
them anyway.
If someone truly wants to play an evil character, then the
first thing the GM should do is sit down and talk with the
player about why they want to play an evil character. Then
the GM needs to figure out if it will reasonably work in the
world they have in mind (is the player going to have fun?).
Then they need to discuss this with the rest of the players
(are they going to have fun?). If everyone is okay with it,
then an evil character should be fine for the game. By this
point, the GM and player should have some idea about the
character's personality and motivations, so making up a list
of do's and don't's should be fairly quick and simple.
I'm a firm believer that in party oriented games like D&D
everyone should discuss character concepts together. Once a
group has been organized and has the potential of working
together, then more detailed characters with hidden secrets
and motivations can be added. There is nothing worse for a
game then having two or more characters so at odds that
their conflicts take away from the rest of the game. I've
seen games degenerate into chaos because someone played a
lawful good paladin and someone else played a neutral evil
thief. Not everyone has to be buddies, but some basic level
of agreement must be available or else the group is will
self-destruct.
It's the responsibility of the players to make characters
that fit within any guidelines the GM gives them. It's the
GM's responsibility to make sure those characters are ready
to be played when the game starts and that everyone has the
information they need (within reason). I think a moral code
should be the first priority with a paladin in the group.
If the character is getting punished for breaking a rule he
was unaware of, that's the GMs fault. However, certain basic
understandings are fairly obvious in my opinion, and just
because there may not be a written rule doesn't mean the
character should get away with it.
Genuine confusion on the part of a new player can be
forgiven, but the GM should point out the mistake at that
time so the player can choose a different option. I warn my
players before they go against their alignment, against the
law, or against a higher power. It's something the
characters should know and the PCs should be given the
chance to change what they are doing. I give several
alternate options, but sometimes the PCs choose to go ahead
anyway because it is what their character would do They
never get mad at me when they get punished later because I
gave them the choice.
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2. Storing Dragonscale And Other Counters
From: Jeff Wilder
Altoid tins make great storage bins!
BTW, I took advantage of a sale by Dragonscale counters to
order a large number of them. They're truly worth the money.
Heavy plastic, full color, 3/4 or top-down view, and you can
write on them with overhead projector pens. If you haven't
looked at them, Johnn, consider this a recommendation.
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3. Tracking Bonus EXPs
From: Henry J. Oliver III
Hi Johnn!
I liked awarding (and penalizing) XP for various things in
my game, but the players never knew exactly what they were
getting points for. To help steer them toward more
productive play, here's something I've just started doing in
my games: I have a piece of paper on the wall with a column
for each player's name and two rows. The top row is bonuses,
the bottom penalties.
Every time a PC (or sometimes a player) does something
clever, brave, or interesting, I make a mark or two in the
top row under their name. When they do bad things (in my
game, this consists mainly of too much table chatter, out-
of-character speech/actions, taking too long to think during
combat) I score in the bottom row. At the end of the
session, I apply a +5% modifier to their XP for each good
mark on their name and -5% for each bad mark.
The great part about this whole exercise is that it gives
them instant feedback on their actions without slowing play.
Further, I keep each sheet (marked with a date and session
number) so I can trace players' improvement.
I have a GIF of the sheet I use if you want to see it.
Thanks, keep up the good work.
[Johnn: You can find Henry's chart in gif format here:.
And in Word doc format here.]
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4. Transporting Fantasy PCs To A Modern World
From: JF
Some things to think about in general terms, rules terms,
and gaming terms when transporting characters from a fantasy
milieu to a modern one:
- Ensure you are fully prepared to deal with the details of
modern technology: guns and vehicles in particular.
- Properly prepare your players for the transition. Give
them ideas on how you think they could roleplay their
characters in a modern environment. How much culture shock
do you think they should suffer? How quickly can they adapt
and learn? How will they communicate?
- Skills. How adaptable are they? What cross-overs will you
allow?
- Health. How will you deal with viruses and bacteria? The
PCs will bring new ones with them, and the modern world will
introduce new ones to them.
- Try to give the PCs strong hooks, goals, and ideas of
what to do. A modern environment allows many more
possibilities (because the players are more familiar with
the world, and things happen faster) so be aware of
irrelevant or confused side-tracking.
- How will you deal with magic? That's a tricky one. Does
is work? If so, do other modern citizens wield it? Why or
why not?
- How will you deal with deities? Do they still exist? Do a
few modern people know this? Can spells and divine magic
function?
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5. The Ten Commandments Of Character Construction
From: Mike Bourke, Sydney, Australia
With the advent of points-based systems for character
generation, there was a paradigm shift in roleplaying. With
a random-roll system, the characteristics are determined and
character background centers on assessing the implications
of those characteristics; but points-based systems rely on
having a character concept before you start construction.
As a result, there is far greater emphasis on the strength
of the initial character concept. Points-based systems
generally involve more work in constructing a character, and
if the character concept isn't a strong one, that can be
time wasted. The strength of a character concept can be
easily assessed in hindsight; what is needed is a checklist
to judge the concept in advance. This article is intended to
provide just such a checklist.
- A strong concept is not a weak concept. (Sounds obvious,
right?) Weak concepts are often described in inanimate
terms: cutout, two-dimensional, single-purpose, cliche,
plastic, wooden, cardboard cutout. If any of these labels
apply to a concept you've created, think very carefully
before proceeding!
- A strong concept is fun to play. If you don't enjoy
playing it, you won't play it. A must!
- A strong concept has a broad range. The character should
have a range of reactions available in any given situation.
Not even the Hulk was limited to Hulk-Smash ALL the time.
- A strong concept is consistent. A suave, sophisticated
diplomat is strong, if a bit cliche (in need of
customising). A scruffy, street-smart diplomat who settles
his problems with a .44 Magnum is confused.
- A strong concept has limits. There are things the
character cannot or will not do. If the character has no
limits, he has no challenges - a sure recipe for boredom.
It's important that these limits not be exclusively things
that the character will grow out of with experience. They
may be weakened or modified, but never eliminated.
- A strong character has assets that can also be
liabilities. So your character is strong enough to juggle
elephants - how does he go with Baccarat crystal?
- A strong concept is focused. It's easy to confuse broad
with diverse, and diverse is only a half-step away from
inconsistent. Batman is a broad character, with a vast array
of skills to employ in his war on crime. Superman is a
diverse character, his powers having several unrelated
points of focus. The Composite Superman, a villain with all
the powers of the Legion Of Superheroes, was inconsistent,
unfocused, and a weak concept, which is why he was never
used for more than an issue at a time.
- A strong concept has a world in which to act and react.
If the referee isn't interested in the character, it doesn't
matter how brilliant a concept it is - file it away and save
it for a different campaign.
- A strong concept doesn't hog the limelight. If the
concept demands the character be the centre of attention all
the time, or the character will take up a disproportionate
amount of game time, the character weakens the campaign.
Either it won't receive the attention it demands, because
the Referee is being fair to the other players, or the other
characters will be spectators too often for too long. It's
unfortunate that this applies to most super-speed characters
due to game mechanics, as practicalities eliminate this
classic character category.
- A strong character has room to grow. Like most species,
it will either expand or stagnate, and stagnating characters
stop being fun to play. Note that this means growth in
character, not capabilities. It's also worth observing that
an excessive level of capabilities can actually limit growth
in character; that's why DC has revised Superman's power
level so often. Tough is fine; unstoppable is boring,
eventually.
So there you have it. My ten commandments for the
construction of strong character concepts, characters who
will be an asset to the campaigns in which they appear. And
of course, always the remember the golden rule of RPGs: it
doesn't matter whether you win or lose, it's how much fun
you have in the process!
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6. Standing Orders
From: Tommi Brander
RPG toolkit wiki contains a concept much like standing
orders, but called instincts.
Instinct - RPG Toolkit Wiki
Return to Contents
7. Standing Orders For PBeM
From: K. Amaloo
Hi,
I use standing orders in my PBEM to avoid getting bogged
down too much, especially during combat. Here's the list I
append to the character sheets:
General
Attack if/when:
Flee if/when:
Other:
Combat
Primary tactics:
Secondary tactics:
Primary spellcasting tactics:
Secondary spellcasting tactics:
Withdraw from combat if/when:
Flee combat if/when:
Rest (camp):
Rest (village/town/city):
Spell preparation (typical):
Lvl 0: spell name, alphabetically
Lvl 1:
Lvl 2:
Lvl 3:
After they've filled in the blanks, it's easier in
particular to get through the initial stages of combat -
especially since I roll all the dice anyway.
I ask that players send me their basic standing orders as
above, but put their current plans and goals in each post to
make sure they're up to date and relevant.
I hope it's useful to other people, too!
Return to Contents
Dave Arneson's Blackmoor - PDF
Thirty years ago, the world's first fantasy campaign began.
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Dave Arneson's Blackmoor - PDF at En World