Genres in D&D - Horror

My other favorite game to run is Call of Cthulhu. For those of you not familiar with the game, it is a horror roleplaying game based off of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. It uses a percentile based system, although they did release a d20 version of it many years ago.

Horror is a rather difficult to convey in D&D. Horror in general relies on two things: the unknown and powerlessness. People are most frightened when they do not understand the situation or know what is coming and when there isn't anything they can do about it.

Darkness is a common source of the unknown. When you can't see what's around you your mind begins to create the monsters you can't see. D&D has a myriad of ways to defeat the darkness, both metaphorically and and literally. From 0 level spells to cheap alchemical items to racial abilities to see in the dark, players will rarely ever be in a situation where they can't see what they want to.

The unknown is also difficult to do in D&D. It is based on common mythologies and any group that has been playing long enough will know the basic stats of most monsters they'll encounter. Not only that, there are more than a few divination spells to discover information about anything that they will ever encounter.

Horror is difficult to accomplish. From a "historical" perspective, Ravenloft was the horror setting; however I've never played in that setting, so I can't truly comment on it. I've always found D&D does not have the appropriate system for horror. Players will never feel powerless because they grow in power regularly. The availability of magic means that they will rarely be faced with things that are truly scary. Fear and horror lies in the hearts of the common person, not the hero.

Gaming Burnout

The dreaded phase in a gamers life-cycle: burnout. You've been gaming for a long time and suddenly it stops being as much fun; you feel it wearing down on you when game day approaches instead of getting excited. This can happen for a variety of reasons: things have become stagnant, too many responsibilities are pressing in and vying for your time, or there may be some tension between group members that are affecting everyone.

There are two main approaches to dealing with burnout: muscle through or take a break. Each has its own downsides.

If you decide to muscle through the burnout, you'll keep playing and going until it starts being fun again. Some options are to muscle through are switching roles: if you GM frequently, try playing or vice versa. Perhaps you need to change systems to keep things lively. If you routinely game in one location, try moving it to another. What you're looking for is to change something up and hopefully reignite the fading spark.

The downside is that it might not ever get fun if you don't take a break. Your lack of interest or mood may spread to other people in the group and affect them as well, making the situation worse.

Taking a break is just that: taking a break from the game. This can be an individual or a play-group taking a break. If the group is large enough, one player can take a break without adversely affecting the entire group. If the group is small though, one person taking a break may equate to the whole group taking a break. I find this to be the most effective way of staving off burnout.

The problem is that if you do take a break since you're not having fun; you may associate not playing with having fun. It is important to remember the fun you had so that you can go back to it; otherwise the break turns permanent; which may adversely affect the group. The other concern is remaining in touch with your friends that you game with while you take your hiatus. Unless the problem is with players, you want to maintain your friendships, in the event that you decide that you are done with gaming.

Genres in D&D - High Fantasy

Obviously, the default setting for D&D is a high fantasy setting. With creatures such as orcs and dragons, trolls and fairies flying around high fantasy is the only way to describe it. With High Fantasy tends to come other concepts such as world threatening plots, epic action, and piles of treasure hidden in caves.

As I said, this is the default setting for D&D; with it comes pros and cons. In High Fantasy the heroes are heroes and the villains are villains; right is right and wrong is wrong. Adventure is for the good of all and the rewards will be deserved. There won't be much in the way or moral dilemmas or gray areas for the players to explore. These are neither good nor bad things; they just are. This is what D&D was designed for.

Deviation from this setting requires some kind of warning to the players. Even if the warning is just "This won't be your usual D&D game." There are many other genres you can take your game; but they do require some buy in from everyone so that everyone's expectations are met and everyone has fun.

Memorable Villains

What drives the PCs on in their quest? Is it glory and treasure? A desire for power? Immortality?

If the players in your game are anything like mine, it is usually a desire for vengeance against a slight by the villain. We tend to be a vindictive bunch. How can you design a villain that makes the players cheer when he dies? A person who the players will follow to the end of the earth to destroy?

The easy answer is lie to them and trick them.

The last villain I ran in my game was Hugh. He was the captain of the guard in the capital city that fell when the Mind Flayers attacked from below. The players rescued him without realizing he had been compromised and was working with the Mind Flayers to foment civil war so they could establish a power base and take over the entire kingdom. After parting ways for a bit they met up again and he was in control of another city. Through various actions he showed his inconsistency, but the PCs had nothing to pin on him that was concrete.

The players developed a deep hatred for him because the players knew he was the villain, but the characters had nothing concrete besides odd feelings. When he finally was revealed to be the villain, they were happy and relieved that they could finally kill him. When the final encounter with Hugh came up, he used children as a shield (I hadn't counted on the amorality of one the players to resolve that situation so quickly) and the stroke that killed Hugh brought cheers around the table.

So have your villains show up early. Have them mislead and lie to the players. Put them in positions of authority that are just out of reach of the players so that they have to deal with them instead of outright killing them. Arrogance and being condescending also goes a long way towards irritating the players and making them hate the villains.

Scheduling

Scheduling game times can be a bear and a half. Especially as time goes by and more and more responsibilities pile up.

When I first started gaming seriously in college, scheduling was never a problem. We were about to get in 2-3 gaming sessions a week, on top of playing Magic and general goofing around. Obviously as the real world crept in, in the guise of jobs and significant others, scheduling the games became a real challenge. I've been fortunate enough to date, and in the end marry, women that have put up with my gaming habits.

Time and growing up takes its toll on hobbies. I feel myself fortunate that the friends I game with are able to continue sharing the hobby with me. Amongst people who game, it seems to be a rarity to be able to meet weekly; many people manage to game maybe once or twice a month.

If you're looking to schedule a game, you need to work around all those things, as well as the level of interest of your players. Some people, while they may enjoy gaming, may not want to dedicate the amount of time required to play weekly. Some people may not be able to game weekly due to familial commitment or work. You may need to schedule shorter gaming sessions, during the week if weekends are unavailable.

While I'm fond of the marathon sessions going longer than 6 hours, they're not always viable. If you have to game during the week, as unfortunate as it is, the best time may be somewhere in the middle of it. While Fridays are great since many don't have to go to work on Saturday, they are also a date night and may cause issue with those who are in relationships. The middle of the week is workable mostly because it is in the middle of the week and people don't schedule things for the middle of the week.

Monsters in Transition - Goblins

Ah the Goblin. Fodder you encounter from levels 1 to 2 and then never again, except as a means to slow down your inevitable slaughter of the main villain. Over the course of editions it looks like the cast off  monster, the bottom of the Goblinoid family has been struggling to become noteworthy.

The CR of the goblin has always been laughable. CR 1/4 in 3.0 seeing only a slight improvement in 3.5 and Pathfinder to a grand whopping 1/3. In D&D, goblins remained fairly unchanged, their AC has remained constant and in 3.5 they received an extra hit point due to their Con score going up. Offensively, they received both an upgrade and downgrade from 3.0 to 3.5. Initially they started out with a +1 to hit and did 1d8-1 damage. 3.5 came along and now they rock a +2 to hit and do 1d6 damage. So on average they'll hit more often and do the same damage, but they lost the ability to "explode" with 7 damage. Their skills remained fairly constant between editions only going up or down a point. Most notably they had a Hide and Move Silent at either 5 or 6.

Pathfinder has made some significant changes though. Now, they have 1d10+1 hitpoints. This means that you are less likely to kill them in one hit. Their armor class also went up to 16, making them a touch harder to hit. They also do much less damage now at 1d4. Because of Pathfinder's redesign of the skills, there is no longer a Hide or Move Silent, they combined them into Stealth. And Goblins are amazing at it. +10 to their Stealth. That may not sound like a lot, but if they roll average, you'll need to roll above average to see them; meaning a group of goblins will likely get a surprise round on you.

They won't pose a serious threat to players after level 2 (even in Pathfinder) but because they're lightly armored and really fast (for a small creature their land speed has always been 30 ft) they can prove a nuisance to players throughout all the early levels. Goblins may not be a combat threat, but now you can have goblins steal from the party and disappear into the night (they also have darkvision) depriving your party of supplies or rest.

I think that the CR for a Goblin is spot on in 3.5, and perhaps a little low (at most they should be 1/2) in Pathfinder, since they have gained a bit more survivability, so they can go two or three rounds before dropping or fleeing. There damage is low, but if 3 of the gang up on one person they could be in for an awful surprise.

Monsters in Transition - Overview

I'm going to be going over varying monsters and how they've transitioned from D&D 3.5 (and possibly 3.0 if I can dig up the appropriate reference materials) to Pathfinder. I've felt that some monsters have an incorrect CR associated with them and I think that going over how they've changed from differing editions has impacted how they play in the game. I expect some monsters will have gone up, some will have gone down, and most will have been tweaked to remain internally consistent within their own systems.

This won't be a regular series, since the research and comparison may take a lengthy amount of time. However, I should be able to get the first one out on Friday; going over the basic fodder: Goblins.

Ideas that Fail to Transfer - GMs

Character concepts can be difficult to transfer, as we previously went over. The problem exists for GMs as well. You may come across an idea in a game or movie and want to recreate or integrate it in a game.

Plots from movies/books/games seem like the easiest thing to lift and use. However, the creators of those stories probably didn't have to deal with people co-creating the experience with them. If you want to create a railroad experience for your players, then you can do use plots whole-cloth; otherwise, your players will have input into what goes on during your game. Mystery plots that you intend to drag on may be resolved in a instant. Players may not want to listen to plot exposition from the villain and may outright murder them; possibly leading to dead ends.

The way around this, and to all player interaction in your world, is to be flexible and adapt to what they do. Also, be sure to adapt the plot to your groups playstyle. If your players hate mystery, don't try and force it on them.

Sometimes you may want to adapt plot devices as mechanics. For instance, in every zombie movie; their bites are incredible lethal, since they transmit the disease and turn the bitten into fellow zombies. This could be a powerful motivation within the game, since undead must now be purged completely and preferably at range. You can work various drama in, with friends or loved ones being bitten and then having to be dealt with. It could make for an awesome game.

Except that spells like remove disease exist. A failed fort save marks a PC for death, in the absence of clerics or paladins. At low levels this is far more common, but even at high levels there's always a 5% chance to fail, even if you set the save ridiculously low. A solution is to use it as a plot device, so that it happens when you intend it to and at no other times. This allows you to work it in as needed, but also removes the threat from PC, but they may not need to know that.

Adapting plots and mechanics can be tricky, but can be rewarding since some of the difficult planning has been done for you. It just requires the ability to tweak the lifted information on the fly or to change the "rules" of how a lifted mechanic works.

Guest Author (Soonish)

I'll be starting a new campaign in two-ish weeks, after an rather enjoyable break playing in a short-term campaign (which has turned out to be completely awesome). Gearing up for a campaign is always a great deal of fun, since the game world is rife with possibilities for everything and watching the players pick paths within the game world, altering the world and events, is very rewarding.

What does this have to do with a guest author? Because of an amazing speech by my best man, including amendments to the wedding vows, my lovely wife is required to play in a D&D game. I've managed to convince her to give it more than one session so she can get a better feel for it than just one game.

I've also managed to convince her to blog about her experiences here. So she'll be writing a post or three about her experiences which I think will provide a nice chronicle of someone gaming for the first time. I think that's awesome.

Ideas that Fail to Transfer - Players

Sometimes you'll see an idea in a movie, TV show or videogame or you'll read about something that sounds awesome in a book and think "That'd be awesome to game in/with!"

So you implement it as a character concept or plot point. And then you realize that the idea failed and you're left with a pile of fail.

When authors create characters for their books, they don't have to worry about any kind of rules or level progressions; they can just create from scratch. As gamers, when we try to recreate those characters, we're forced to work within the constraints of a ruleset that, in all likelyhood, had nothing to do with the source material.

Say you want to play a Gandalf like character. Clearly he has some magical abilities (he is a wizard after all) but can also hold is own in melee combat. This is commonly referred to as a "gish" build and the amount of effort it takes to pull it off is ridiculous. Not only that, you will be operating at a subpar level of efficacy for some time because the rules have made a distinction between magical and melee ability.

Any epic hero from any series of books will not usually work as expected at first. The authors didn't have to worry about making a balanced or fair character, they had to worry about creating a story. As a player, you are stuck with the burden of fairness.

If you do want to recreate a character bear a few things in mind:

1. You won't be as bad ass as the literary version, at least not right away and possibly ever. 
2. Perhaps the rules explicitly forbid what you're attempting or feats don't exist to accomplish what you want.

The way to work around this is either acknowledge that you won't be as good as you expect as early as you'd like. If this is the case, just grow with it as best you can. If you've built the character correctly, you'll hit a point where you become effective.

The other options is to focus one specific aspect that you want to recreate. That will let you build to one aspect instead of the entire character; allowing you to reach the break even point faster.

Combat Roles #8 - Why Bother?

We've gone over a bunch of roles that you can fulfill in combat. But why should you bother?

As mentioned earlier, combat in D&D is based on the idea of a balanced party in a generic sense (Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, Rogue). We've gone over different archetypes that comprise the balanced party. If the party isn't balanced, things can get rather sticky in a hurry.

But there is an alternative, albeit a risky one. The entire party can hyper specialize in only two of the archetypes. This can lead to risky, dangerous and exciting combats. If everyone focuses on melee damage, there is very little that can stand up to them. However, if the fight goes on for more than a few rounds, PCs will start to drop. If everyone focuses on defense, you can outlast the enemies and wear them down slowly.

This type of specialization can lead to interesting combat encounters, but can also rapidly lead to a total party wipeout if things take a turn.

50th Post

Surprisingly, I've been at it for 50 posts now, with relatively little interruption. So hooray that! In honor of that, I'm going to just show off some of the minis I've painted. Much to my displeasure, I never took pictures of some of the minis I gave away, so this is not a complete list of minis that I've done (what I feel) is a good job of painting them.

This is a character I played in a long running campaign. I also used this mini on my grooms cake when I was married.

This is the "main" villain on the grooms cake.

These are before and after pictures of minis I had painted years ago and repainted.

I take commissions if anyone would like a mini painted.

First Time

It seems that I missed Monday's post. I am a creature of habit and the Memorial Day weekend messed up my schedule. I also took off the 1st from work, furthering adding to the break in my normal routine. My apologies. To make up for it, I'll try to combine two topics into one: First Times for both players and DMs; what to expect and how to go about it.

So you've decided to play D&D, what should you expect?

A lot of confusion and a good deal of hesitance. If this is your first time playing, you won't know all the rules and things may seem frustrating. There is far too much within the system to understand and piece together in a single play through. Rules will seem bizarre and nonsensical.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Most likely the people sitting around you are your friends so feel free to ask and I'm sure they'll be more than happy to help. Even strangers will offer advice, since if you play the hobby grows.

Pick a class/race combination that is straightforward and easy to play. At this point, the less confusion the better. While the game is going on, observe how other people are playing their characters and what they do; it'll help you understand the game better.

If you're playing with alignments, pick one that is closest to how you would act. At this point in your gaming career, it may be best to stick to something that seems natural to you, instead of trying to think and behave in a manner that is foreign to you.

Having fun can take some time as well. Campaigns have high and low points. If you're coming in midstream it may take some time before you catch up to what is going on. If you're coming in at the beginning of a campaign, it may take some time for the story to get interesting. Not only that, but even individual gaming sessions experience this ebb and flow.

So the rules for first time players are:

• Play something easy and that you can relate to. 
• Give it time to make sure you aren't at a lowpoint in the campaign of the session. 
• Above all, ask questions if you're confused or unsure. 

So you've decided to run a D&D game, what can you expect?

So you've played some games and want to tell your story to the group. Or the current GM needs a break and asks you to run a game. Or you convinced your friends that gaming is fun and have taken upon yourself the onus of being the first GM. What can you expect?

Being a GM is difficult and very different from playing. As a player, you only have to worry about the development of your character. You really only need to know the rules that pertain to what your character does. As a GM the story is your character and you need to know the rules pertaining to everyone's characters. You need to be able to spend at least a few hours a week planning the session and creating NPCs and encounters.

Planning is particularly difficult. If you plan the story to down to a "T" you'll be accused of railroading your players. Railroading eliminates the player's free will in your world. Instead of the player's being the focus of your game, the story is. This ends up alienating your players since it feels like they really have no input on where things are going.

The flipside is sticking your players in a "sandbox" where they can do anything they like, go anywhere they like. This lets the players create the story they choose to. A true sandbox requires a few things.First, you need to be comfortable with improv. Second, your players need to take some initiative and help you move things forward. If your player's don't do this, it can become an aimless mess and people end up being frustrated.

I find a mix between the two to be ideal. In my mind, I set the start of the story and the end point for the campaign. Everything else in between is gray area that the players can fill in however they choose. Having an endpoint in mind can help me move things forward if the players falter; but it is important to keep the ending flexible so that the players can shape the story in whatever way they want. Having a beginning and an end gives you the basic framework for the campaign and provides the initial guidance for the players to get started.