Are You Missing the Forest for the Trees? Plant an Orchard.

Recently, JB at BX Blackrazor wrote a long post (he does that) on why he doesn't like "rules lite" , primarily OSR/NSR style, games. Adam at Barking Alien wrote a reply on why he does like rules lite games (OSR or otherwise). I'm somewhere in the middle. 

I like enough mechanical crunch to make the game feel like I'm actually playing a game, not just doing some group story exercise with a bit of die rolling. But I don't need an excess of systems that bog down the flow of the game, either. Hence my preference for TS&R, where I take the simpler (but not rules lite) BX/BECMI D&D rules, and graft on the bits and pieces of OD&D, 1E, 2E, and even more modern games that I like to it. Along with a few of my own house rules, of course. Just enough complexity for me, without getting too burdensome to run.

That's all preamble to what I really want to write about today, though. These two posts, along with Adam's follow up on there being too much combat in old school fantasy games, got me thinking about something I'm sure I've addressed before, but probably years and years ago. 

One of the big strengths of original D&D and the Classic D&D line, in my opinion, is that is is explicit about the procedures for each stage of game play. Dungeon exploration turns -- spelled out and given a checklist to follow. Wilderness exploration -- also spelled out and given a checklist to follow. Encounters (both dungeon and wilderness) -- spelled out and given a checklist to follow. Combat rounds -- spelled out and given a checklist to follow. Reaction rolls and morale -- you get the idea. 

These are something that has been lost in a lot of newer games. Now, I haven't checked out every single OSR/NSR game out there, so I'm sure there are some that do these things. I know retroclones like Labyrinth Lord and Basic Fantasy still have these procedures spelled out explicitly. But WotC D&D, any version, really only does this for the combat side of the equation. And even then, some areas like Reactions and Morale are done away with for the most part. And it seems like many of the newer, rules lite games like Into the Odd, PbtA, and Black Hack derived games lack these as well (but I've mostly experienced these games from the player side, so I could be wrong here). 

I looked through my 1E books, and was surprised that the dungeon exploration turn doesn't seem to be spelled out explicitly anywhere. The process for wilderness exploration is described in the DMG (but not with handy checklists like BX and BECMI have), including for maritime, airborne, and planar adventuring. Combat procedures have maybe too much detail (those pummeling/grappling rules for example). But a simple explanation for the DM or players about how to structure an exploration turn for a dungeon seems to be missing. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place. Most of the guidance for that is in the PHB, but how to run a turn doesn't seem to be spelled out. 2E seems similar. Each individual mechanic is described with how it operates, but how they all fit together in the exploration turn or encounter seems to be more vague.

Procedures provide structure. Games need structure. Without structure, you can have game elements. You have mechanics for action resolution. You have mechanics for advancement. You have mechanics for spells/items/abilities. But you need a frame to hang them on. Without procedures for game turns, it's like you have a big box of LEGO pieces for your RPG, with an incomplete or missing manual to tell you how they fit together. 

Now, plenty of older games also fall into this trap. I'm loving playing and running d6 Star Wars, but while it gives you lots of good advice on setting up situations within the fictional world and a mechanic for action resolution, it is a little light on procedures for running non-combat activities. I get that combats need to be the one area of the game where the mechanics are most clear and transparent to the players, so they feel like they win or lose fairly. But the rest of the game should be transparent in that way, too. 

I know I've had times where a new player didn't understand how the procedures worked, and since they were joining my game which included veteran players, I didn't fully explain them. And then things are a mystery to them. I need to be more aware of this, and explain not just how to make a PC or how combat works, but how exploration and interactions work step by step. 

I like having those procedures spelled out, even if I don't always follow them to the letter. They are there when we need them. And of course, as old grognards, those of us who've been running these games don't need them spelled out. I know I personally used a lot of Classic D&D procedures when I ran 5E. The game lacks them, but I knew what to do because of my earlier gaming experiences. I imported the procedures that 5E lacked, but eventually tired of trying to shoe-horn in these elements to a game that fundamentally didn't want you to use that sort of procedure. WotC D&D, some old school non-D&D games, and a lot of the recent "lite games" seem, from my estimation, to want DMs to just present players with encounter situations and get to the skill checks/combat to resolve them. 

It's not railroad play in the traditional sense that players have no choice in what to do and where to go. But it is a sort of stunted play, where tactical choices are limited to "how do I do the most damage in this situation?" or "who has the best skill modifier to complete this task?" With set procedures, that are known to players as well as the GM, players can make more informed choices. GMs can tweak the procedures for special occasions, but most of the time will rely on them to keep the game moving. Players can engage in all the play-acting of their PCs they want during this, and that can be fun. But the procedures keep us from getting too bogged down in the role play or the mother-may-I style exploration interactions. 

Now I know some play these games FOR the role play. The more free "describe what you do, I'll tell you what happens" style play is also popular, and I can see why. I think it's good to have both in your games. But you need to enforce some order in the game to have choices matter. Procedures for exploration and interaction do that. I think it's a shame that most games have gone the path of only providing these procedures explicitly for combat. 

Individual game mechanics are like trees. An RPG that doesn't show you how the game mechanics connect and work together to make the game advance is like a forest. A game that connects and orders the various mechanics in a way that gives players choice and GMs flexibility to use or modify them as needed at the table -- that is an orchard. And it will bear the most fruit.  

Who Did Worldbuilding Advice Better, TSR or WOTC?

 Recently, there was a comment on JB's excellent B/X Blackrazor blog by Simulated Knave claiming that they found 1E AD&D lacked solid advice for interaction with NPCs outside of combat or for worldbuilding, something that the commenter found that 3E D&D/Pathfinder was better at. 

Now, I've played a bit of PF but it has been many years since, and I never had the books. I've only briefly looked at the PF 2E thing. So maybe the good folks at Paizo went above and beyond with advice for NPC interaction and worldbuilding. But I did play plenty of 3E/3.5 D&D, and I have those books on PDF still to reference. 

WAY back, I did also make this post about how OD&D has more pages of rules for exploration of the game world than for combat within the game system. The sixth post I ever made here. I think that's relevant to the discussion as a bit of context.

Let's examine Simulated Knave's claim. 

Of course, SK, if you're reading this, feel free to comment and let me know if I misunderstood your intent or points you brought up. It's always possible, and I'm open to having my mind changed on this front. 

Also, one last disclaimer. As most regular readers know, I'm a Frank Mentzer edited BECMI kid. That's my go-to D&D set. And Frank did a pretty good job (I feel) giving the budding DM advice on how to build the dungeon, how to build the home town, how to build the world, and how to set up the politics, and how to set up the planes of existence/powers that be/legendary artifacts* of the world all in an easily digestible format that provides just enough advice to get you going on each of these fronts without overwhelming. 

*Having only relatively recently acquired the Immortals Set, and still not having read and digested it thoroughly, I do have to admit that a bit more advice on creating planar adventures could be helpful than what's in the Companion and Masters Sets. 

But the claim by Simulated Knave was about AD&D giving "garbage" advice compared to d20 system games. 

So let's start with d20. 

3E etc. obviously have some simple and direct player facing rules for NPC interactions. There are skills for lying to NPCs, sweet talking with NPCs, trying to see if the NPC is lying to you, and so on. Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Perform...are there anymore? Maybe I'm missing one or two. Roll d20+skill bonuses vs a set DC or the NPC's contested roll. 

Sure, it's simple, it's easy to remember, it's in the PHB so players can know the rules. But it doesn't always make sense. I don't care that you've got a +15 bonus to Intimidate, your Barbarian with the +5 greataxe is not going to make the Lich Lord, who commands the army of the dead outside the gate, tremble in his boots. I don't care what you say, or that you rolled a natural 20. Maybe try again after his army has been decimated and you've located his last phylactery. Then you might have a chance.

And yes, I know that d20 has advice to not allow a roll in that sort of situation, but I've seen plenty of players demand things like that over the years. 

What advice or rules does the 3E DMG (I found my 3.0 DMG before the 3.5 one, so I'm referencing that) have for interactions with NPCs outside of combat? 

Two pages on using the Leadership feat to manage sidekicks and cohorts for PCs, including a half page sidebar on animal companions. 

Then we've got a bunch of pages on NPC stat blocks (mostly combat stats). And a big section going over all of the combat rules, procedures, and so on. It's 25 pages long. 

Then there are a few pages on dealing with environmental dangers, which counts as world building advice. 

The next section is on skill and ability checks, so we get detailed rules on how each skill can be used, and example difficulties for them. This includes the various skills for NPC interaction mentioned above, of course. It's a little over 4 pages. Then we're on to saving throws and adjudicating magic. The second part could be considered world building advice. 

Now we get into the dungeon, wilderness, adventure and campaign creation advice. And it covers around 60 pages for all that. But with in that, it's not all world building advice. A lot of it is combat encounter creation advice. Or how to mechanically handle traps. Or dungeon dressing suggestions. Encounter tables. Random town generation. Advice on linking adventures and player goals into a coherent campaign. Not bad stuff, but a lot of it reads as very surface level to me. There are world building tidbits in there, but also a lot of combat encounter (or challenges requiring skill checks) explained, more so than there is advice on crafting a fantasy world. There is world building advice, as I say, but I don't find it as deep as SK seems to. Or maybe the 3.5 DMG or Pathfinder improved on this base. 

There is a section in all of this on running NPCs. Or rather, there's some advice on the stock types of NPCs you might include in an adventure or campaign, and advice on how to use them as allies or opponents. There are some rules for DCs to influence NPC attitudes. Some hirelings you could hire explained. 

After all this, there's the XP and treasure sections, some reference charts, and the index. 

So for NPC interaction, SK claims that 3E/PF provide the following: "What are the odds of sneaking past an NPC? Of stealing from them? Of convincing them of something? Of them knowing some particular fact? Of them existing at all in the particular town?"

3E does do these things. But AD&D gives you all of that, as well. It's different. Instead of giving you the NPC's Perception skill for the player to roll their Stealth score against, AD&D gives you the surprise round and the Thief skills for hiding and moving silently. AD&D has NPC reaction tables. In fact, they're more robust than 3E's. It's got modifiers for racial animosity, for example, in addition to general reaction rolls. How do you decide in AD&D that a particular NPC lives in a particular community or knows a certain thing? Well, that's called making a decision on your own, rather than rolling some dice. 

All of the NPC interaction that SK seems to laud in d20 systems is just a very mechanical functional take on interaction. d20 gives you lots of skills and difficulty numbers to beat, while AD&D gives you actual advice on crafting a medieval fantasy world (granted, a very specifically Gygaxian one) and lets you extrapolate from there how you want your NPCs to interact with the PCs. 

As for world building, I mentioned above that d20 gives you lots of lists of challenge ratings (how hard is it to climb a wooden wall vs a stone one, or how hard is it to pick that lock vs the lock over there), and a lot of surface level dungeon/world dressing. But everything is centered around making some sort of skill roll, saving throw, ability check, or...yes...combat. There's not a lot of fodder for interesting world building and organic, dialogic play. 

AD&D's 1E DMG has tons of pages of charts, lists, and what not to give flavor to the world. It's got lists of gemstones and flowers and their folk belief uses. It's got that random harlot table. 

There are 9 and a half pages near the front of the 1E DMG giving advice on NPC hirelings, retainers, specialists, and so on. Way more detail than 3.0. And yes, much of this is also mechanical. Will your spy complete their mission? How long will it take the sage to research your questions? How will the dwarven mercenary crew react to your Elf trying to hire them? But it's also a lot of extra information on running these NPCs as well. 

Anyway, I'm out of time so I can't dig for more examples right now. But they're there. 

Yes, there are a lot of combat rules in AD&D. There are a lot in 3E. But in my opinion, AD&D gives richer information on all of these things. Sure, it lacks really detailed stronghold development rules. But BECMI has them, so it was never a problem for me. Maybe that's a cop out, but it's true that a lot of gamers I know mixed and matched what they liked from the TSR editions to fill the gaps.

A Novel form of Exploration

Usually when we think of exploration in RPGs, we're talking about one of three things: exploration of the imagined game world (dungeons, wilderness, settled lands); exploration of character (role play); exploration of the rule systems (optimization/min-maxing, rules lawyering). 

My friend Jeremy, over the past few years, has been embarked on a novel form of RPG exploration. He's exploring varieties of rule sets. Now I know he's not the first person to ever do something like this, but I call it novel mostly because it's a form of game exploration that we don't often discuss.

I remember when he first pitched the idea to me. He wanted to run lots of impromptu pick up games, each time using a different rule set in a different setting (or sometimes the same setting, with characters transferred over to the new system). I remember giving him some pointers on what I thought he would need to do to make the idea work. I don't remember exactly what I said to him, but things like having pregen PCs to pick up and play was definitely one of them. 

Over the past few years, he's run all sorts of rule sets. His preference for games runs towards the grimdark, so sometimes the games feel pretty much the same regardless of the rules we're using. But we have been able to try out lots of those games that we've looked at but figured we might never play. 

I haven't really been into it much lately though, but to be honest I was not super fond of the idea when Jeremy pitched it. While getting to try all these games sounds good, my gaming time is limited. And it kinda sucks to always have to make (or select) new characters, figure out how things work in an unfamiliar game (both rules mechanics wise and setting wise), and to always be starting at level 1 over and over again (something I'm pretty sure I warned him against doing that he didn't heed). 

I'm not posting this to criticize Jeremy or his methods. I do think what he's doing is interesting. But it is also a bit frustrating that we never get to play a rule set long enough to really get a feel for it. We also don't get to run characters long enough to get a feel for them, either. And sometimes the games just feel a bit pointless. Especially in systems that are more story-game influenced and advancement is arbitrary or keyed to number of sessions played. 

Without a solid game-driving objective (like XP for GP, or even XP for combat), and without enough game sessions to figure out who our characters are or what in-universe goals we might want to be accomplishing, the sessions sometimes feel either rudderless or railroady. To be clear, Jeremy isn't railroading us, but it can feel like it when we know so little about the settings. 

And now I'm being negative again. Honestly, I didn't start this post with the intent to criticize what Jeremy's doing or how he's doing it. Jeremy if you're reading, sorry!

So, getting back to the idea at hand: Lots of one shots or mini campaigns, each with a different rule set and different characters. 

It's kinda fun for a side campaign. I've always got more character ideas that I can come up with. We do get to try lots of systems. It's interesting to see different ideas for RPGs put into practice. And it can help identify interesting game mechanics or stylistic choices that I might want to borrow (or to avoid at all costs!). 

But the down side, as I've mentioned, is that these Baskin Robbins sample spoon games don't satisfy the way a Thanksgiving Feast ongoing campaign does.

How I do Exploration XP

 I received this comment from Reese Laundry on my post about not dividing the XP: 

Like Daren, I do this in my BX/OSE games for monster XP only, but not treasure. IT's a minor boost and not unbalancing, I don't feel. I've considered the idea of exploration or mission XP, but haven't tried it yet. I'd be interested in seeing a post at some point on how you do it and how it's worked out for your table!

 Since I've got a bit of spare time today, might as well address it. 

When I started my West Marches game, one of the things I did was go back and read a post from Jeff Rients about exploration XP, and decided to work that into the game. 

Each hex that gets explored has a basic XP value. Any monster lair has a value for its discovery, as well. These values increase the farther the party gets from town. I've got bands 4 hexes deep (or about 1 day's travel) that set the value of these. 

Special locations, or performing certain actions at special locations, or encountering an iconic creature in a certain region, are all worth bonus XP. 

Originally, I set the game up for 5E because that's what all the players wanted to play. So the XP values were pretty small, especially in the initial band. When I switched to Classic D&D, I didn't shift the values right away, so they ended up being inconsequential. After a while, I upped them. 

One thing that I need to improve about my game, actually, is telegraphing where the special areas are that can earn bonus XP. For quite a while now, the group has been setting their own goals. And I've not found the right balance of throwing out rumors and keeping things mysterious. I'm working on it. 

I think I need to make a Google Docs with the rumors and just post the XP amounts on it if the rumor is successfully investigated. 

Anyway, here are the current values I'm using for exploration of a hex and discovery of a lair. The special area XP is pretty variable, but usually two to five times that of a lair discovery award, depending on how easy/hard or influential I think that special is. 

First Band (1 to 4 hexes from Silverwood): Hex 100xp, Lair 200xp

Second Band (5 to 8 hexes): Hex 200xp, Lair 500xp

Third Band (6 to 12 hexes): Hex 500xp, Lair 1000xp

Fourth Band (13 to 16 hexes): Hex 1000xp, Lair 2500xp

Fifth Band (17 to 20 hexes): Hex 2500xp, Lair 5000xp

Sixth Band (21 to 23 hexes): Hex 5000xp, Lair 10,000xp

Sand in the Box

My son just turned 9, and has been wanting to play D&D with people other than just me. There is a local group with three spots open (playing 5E), but when I asked the DM if he would mind playing with a 9-year-old, he reluctantly said he'd ask his players. I told him don't bother. I figure if he's uncomfortable with the idea, it really doesn't matter what the other players say. So, I'm falling back on my plan to start a new face-to-face group where my son can play.

A while back, I made several posts about running Dragonlance as a sandbox campaign in 5E, thinking I'd run that for my son and whoever else. Dragonlance because the world does have a lot of neat elements to it, and I read tons of the novels when I was a kid, so I know it pretty well. 5E because that will make it easier to attract other players. Sandbox, because I'd rather not introduce my son to playing group games by making him ride the DL module railroad.

But then I thought, why not save myself a lot of time, and just run it with 1E AD&D? It may be harder to get players, but easier to run the game. It would be even easier if I ran it using my BECMI houserules but with race and class separate. But again, getting players might be a problem.

Then, last week, I found a game on RPOL.net with an old school DM running a West Marches game using 5E, and I joined it. And I've decided to copy that rather than set my game on Krynn. Part of the decision was a bed-time discussion with my son, before I got the answer from the local DM, about what sort of character he'd like to play. I gave him a run-down of the 5E races and classes, and he thought a Dragonborn Monk would be fun to play. Not very DL, at least not pre-War of the Lance. So something more open, less defined, and with plenty of options might be in order.

So, I'm thinking how I'd run my own West Marches style sandbox game. There's a bit of a desire on my part to try my saltbox Maritime Campaign from a few years ago, but that's more work for me. With a more standard West Marches type set-up, I can plop down TSR modules, old dungeons I've made, free downloads from WotC/Dragonsfoot/the OSR community, and the like throughout the wilderness, and let the players explore to find them.

I say "West Marches style" because I'm planning to only run it with this one group, meeting regularly. It will be pretty open ended, but since there's only the one group, I'll probably need to lay down lots of rumors and the occasional mission/request for the townsfolk to get them motivated to explore, at least in the beginning.

So now we get to the nitty-gritty of this post. What do I need to run a West Marches style hexcrawl sandbox?

1. A Map: Of course, I need a wilderness hex map. The home town is on the far eastern edge, in the middle, and players have free reign to explore to the west, northwest, or southwest of the town. But if you go east, you're entering into retirement in the civilized settled lands of the Empire.

I'll probably start with a small scale map at 6 miles per hex, with various Basic level dungeons scattered here and there, and a few tougher dungeons and monster lairs. Later, if the campaign lasts long enough, I can create a larger scale map (24 miles per hex).

2. Wilderness Encounter Tables: These are most important, since from the beginning the players will be exploring the wilds trying to find dungeons or monster lairs with treasure. I don't have the 5E DMG yet, just the PHB and MM, and I don't remember if there are wilderness encounter tables in the free Basic Rules DM download, so I may have to just use the Expert Set ones, or make my own custom ones. Custom ones would be a better West Marches fit, so that each area of the wilds can have its own flavor, so I'll probably work up some custom jobbo.

3. A Home Base: In the RPOL game, the home base town is really more of a hamlet, with about 30 residents, not including adventurers. That's easy enough - the town just has the basics needed by adventurers and nothing else. But I may use the "home town" I've been developing for years now, Silverwood, just because I know it and the NPCs there well. I'll likely scale it down in size from around 5,000 residents to merely 500 residents for this game, but the various inns and shops, the mayor and town officials, the temples and thieves' guild, will all remain the same. Like I said, I want this game to be easy for me to run.

4. A Few House Rules: Just exploring for the sake of exploring may not really interest the players. Like I said above, unlike the original West Marches campaign, I'll need to bait the hooks with rumors and missions to get the players out of town and where the action is. Old school games do this well by giving XP for gold. 5E, however, has a very very fast progression rate compared to BECMI or AD&D, so I'll need to tinker either with the amount of treasure worth 1 XP or else with the advancement table.

I think 5E works well getting PCs to level 3 quickly, so that everyone can choose their specialization early on. I'd like to keep that. So I'm thinking I'll give out 1 XP for every 1pp (10gp) in treasure, plus use monster XP from BECMI. That might actually give more XP for higher level monsters, I'd better check on that. Also, the old school "no more than one level per adventure" rule must be implemented.

5. A Jeff's Gameblog style Triple Secret Random Wilderness Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom: Even though I'm only going to be running this game with one party, I'd rather not leave them out in the wilderness between sessions. There will be "safe haven" locations on the map, which can be used to rest and recuperate, resupply and maybe get a bit of information, and of course the players may set up more of their own if they attempt such. If they don't get back to town or to one of these safe havens by the end of the game session, I'll roll and see what happens to them.

6. Dungeons (and dragons, too!): I've still got the Caves of Chaos 5E conversion from the Play Test, and the Isle of Dread, and maybe there was another adventure in there? So I have some stuff already with 5E stats and the like to use. I've got plenty of old TSR era and 3E WotC era modules/adventures on the computer that can be easily converted to 5E, I think. And it's not hard to whip up a few 5 to 10 room ruins, caves, and the like. So I can scatter those around the map, plus leave clues/rumors to other locations in each. I'll also need to decide on a few "pockets of danger" like dragons, undead, or other tough beasties who have a known (or easy to recognize as a more dangerous place) lair in some of the easier areas closer to the home base.

Goodman Games is apparently releasing classic modules with 5E conversions soon, but I'll likely just do the work myself instead of waiting for them to get around to it. The good thing is that I can put a few things I already have near the town (like the Caves of Chaos...in fact, maybe I should use Castellan Keep instead of Silverwood as the home base...), and work up or convert other stuff, as the players get closer to them in their explorations. I could even use those Dragonlance dungeons I was planning to convert to 5E anyway!

That should do it!

Hex vs. Point

Two posts in one day?  You'd think I was a blogger or something. 

Some blogs I read* have been debating the merits of the point crawl, where instead of a hex map to laboriously trudge across, there are flowcharts superimposed on a map (not necessarily to scale) between points of interest.

Now, I already made a map for my GamMarvel World game (one of the first things I did), and I used a hex overlay filter on it (but still have the hexless version as well), so if I need some carefully measured overland travel, I've got it available.

But I'm thinking of doing a new map on my drawing pad, and using it as a point crawl.  While I want exploration to be important in my game, skipping over the boring parts might not be a bad idea, either. 

My recent Isle of Dread session spent a bit too much time counting hexes moved per day.  When I was a kid, we had all afternoon (or sometimes all night) to play, so it was never a problem.  Now, though, with limited time to game, I'm thinking a Point Crawl would be better.  Skip all the walking to Mordor and all that.  Plus, it's more like comics, which focus on action more than logistics.

Then again, part of me thinks logistics are an important part of play in a post-apoc game, where supplies are limited.

Well, we'll see.

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Adventuring Rules

It's been a month since my last post in this series.  My apologies.  The end of the grad school semester, the approaching birth of our second son, an extra project for one of my professors, the release of the first bits of 5E, and Arrow Season 2 conspired against me the past month.  At least with regard to posting about Mentzer Basic.

This section, about 1 1/3 pages, covers some general advice on game systems and exploration within the game for new players.  And it's one of those gems of a section that really seem pitch perfect to me to explain certain concepts to a new gamer.  It gives solid advice about game mechanics, but just enough hints about "in-game" activities to get the player thinking creatively.

The first sub-section is on equipment, and explains what certain items on the equipment list are, and what they can be used for.  These are the sorts of tips that you could pick up from other players if you begin playing with an experienced group, but if everyone is new no one might think to try. 

One interesting note in this section is that Frank suggests poking things with a 10' pole might eliminate a surprise check.  I've had games in the past where even poking something suspicious with a pole didn't prevent surprise, but I will try to remember this one going forward.  It also just made me realize as I typed this, that the standard "traps are set off on a 1 or 2 on 1d6" rule from Holmes (and Moldvay?) is really a surprise check.  Again, note to self to remember this.

The next section on time explains game turns and rounds, the distinction between game time and real time, and that sometimes the DM will skip to the exiting bits.  Also, many every-day or common sense actions should just be assumed.

Related closely is the next section on movement.  We get general movement rates explained (per turn, per round, running per round, unencumbered and encumbered speeds).  At the end of the section, sort of easy to forget, especially for the DM, are rules for exhaustion.  After running for 20 rounds (the book says 5 minutes, but that should be 30 rounds; 20 rounds is just over 3 minutes), characters will need to rest for 30 minutes (3 turns).  Fighting while exhausted results in a +2 bonus to monsters to hit, and a -2 to hit and damage for you. 

Listening is the next section.  Good advice for new players.  Listen at doors.  Listen down hallways.  Gather what clues you can so you can make informed decisions.  However, it's explicitly stated that everyone gets one shot at listening in any instance.

Light is next.  Tinder boxes are explained.  The pros and cons of torches and lanterns are explained.  Light can ruin chances to surprise monsters.  Elf and Dwarf infravision is given a bit more detail about the sorts of things you can and can't see.

Doors.  They come in two types, normal doors which may be easily opened, stuck and in need of bashing, or locked.  Secret doors may be the type we usually think of, with hidden switches and sliding panels, or they may simply be concealed normal doors.  Reading this reminds me that I use too many "secret" doors and not enough concealed doors in my dungeons. 

The next section is on traps.  Some basic types are explained.  Pit traps are listed as the default option, although poisoned chests and doors, blade traps, and poisoned needles are also mentioned.  Searching for traps is listed as less time consuming than searching for secret doors (from the previous section).  Secret door searches cover a 10'x10' area in one turn, while a trap search covers a 20'x20' room or 20' stretch of corridor (shouldn't that be a 40' stretch of corridor?) in one Turn.

Wandering monsters are explained, and a warning is given that they are nuisances best avoided, especially as they rarely have treasure. 

The next section covers using miniature figures to represent characters, suggesting that if they are used, they can be used to show marching order.  Of course, "Official DUNGEONS & DRAGONS(r) figures are available."  Graph paper or a vinyl mat are suggested to be used for mapping the dungeon, and the final small section suggests this should be done at a scale of 1 inch = 10'.

My reaction on re-reading this, is very positive.  I remember getting ideas about equipment uses from this when I first read it, and it also boils down some of the game concepts that players will want to be familiar with (Dungeon Masters need to know by heart) such as time, movement, and perception.  In general, it gives a new player most of the information they will need to play smart and keep their PC alive during exploration phases of the game.

Needles in haystacks

Way back last year, Noisms of Monsters and Manuals blogged about the contents of wilderness hexes.  He showed through real world examples that even a 1-mile hex can have a lot of adventure opportunity.  And most RPG maps are at the 5 or 6 mile hex scale, or 24 mile scale.

So, imagine you've got one of those wilderness maps with all hexes numbered, and keys with something (or several things as Noisms suggests) interesting in each hex.

How do you determine when something is found?

Wandering monster rolls are of course one way.  If there's a random encounter while in that hex, instead of rolling a random monster, the encounter could be with whatever monster lairs there (although not necessarily in the lair). This is fairly simple and elegant, as the more times the PCs cross the hex or spend actively searching, the likelier they are to encounter what ever is keyed there.

The down side is that you then no longer have wandering or random encounters when in the wilderness.

Also, the probabilities for wandering monster encounters tend to increase with the more wild the terrain is, at least in Classic D&D.  It's been so long since I've looked at AD&D's wilderness encounter charts I don't remember, but I have a feeling it's the same.  Anyway, you're more likely to encounter some monster in a swamp or jungle than you are in open plains or the desert. 

If the keyed encounter is with a monster tribe or the like, well, that makes sense to keep it this way.  But what if the keyed encounter is a location like a ruined temple or some unusual (super)natural feature?  Wouldn't it be harder to find in a forest or the mountains that it would be in open fields?  Perhaps a new chart with inverted chances of encounters would be in order for such things. 

A lost oasis fortress might not be hard to find at all while traveling through a flat rocky desert.  The hidden Elven city of Gondollin would be next to impossible to find.  Should each encounter have its own chance to be randomly found listed? 

That's a lot of checking map keys and rolling dice for each hex that's passed through.  I'm sure a computer program could be created to handle all of that, but I sure don't have the time to make one (or the skill, at the moment, although I'd guess the coding for such wouldn't be too hard to learn).

The easiest way to handle things at the table, I guess, would be to treat it in a manner similar to searching for traps or secret doors.  If the players are passing some potential encounter, and they say something that would likely put them close, allow them to have the encounter.  If not, or they are simply "searching," give them a die roll (would Elves have a bonus to find lost temples or hidden orc cave-lairs?) of some sort.

Or the default method presented in modules, if they pass through the hex they have the encounter, and just don't put stuff in every hex. 

On a related note, I had an idea while thinking of all the above.  Would there be a desire for a "random wilderness stocking system" similar to the simple random dungeon stocking tables in the Basic Sets?  I've been using them with my Megadungeon project, and they're nice for spacing out encounter areas among the rooms, and force me to get creative when there are many traps or specials in certain areas.  Something similar for the wilderness might be handy.  Maybe I'll try to come up with something some day.

What's my motivation?

In an attempt to do a bit of bridge-building between the gap in play styles between myself and my friend Dave, I gave a bit of thought to reasons why someone might want to become an 'adventurer.'  For people that enjoy figuring out who their PC is as much or more so than exploring the world within the game (the personal imagined space as opposed to the shared imagined space, in pseudo-Forge faux intellectual terms, or something equally pompous).

If you're going to focus on exploring a character THROUGH exploring the dungeon, or if you're going to explore the dungeon WHILE exploring your character, either way you really ought to give a bit of thought to the mentality that would cause someone to want to battle Beholders and Sathar and Cyborg Mutant Hitmen for a few grubby gold coins or credits or a piece of junk that might be a blaster or a hair dryer.

Here are the reasons I came up with while on the subway the other day:

Greed:  You want to be rich, and adventuring is a lucrative career.  You weigh the dangers against the potential gain, and only act if the balance swings in your favor.

Power:  You want to become one of the movers and shakers of the world, and gaining both money and a reputation are the means to that end.  You aren't concerned so much with what form of power you acquire, as long as you end up the boss in some way.

Excitement:  You relish the danger most of all.  You're probably a little crazier than your companions (who're all a bit crazy as it is!), and you'll happily poke that hole with your blade, push the red button, or charge the orc patrol just because it will give you that adrenaline rush.

Curiosity:  You're a born explorer.  You aren't in it for the money, or the danger, or the power, but simply to see what's out there.  You boldly go where no man has before simply because no one has been there before (that you know of).

Study:  You want to document your explorations.  Maybe you want to benefit the world, maybe just yourself.  But you want to uncover secrets or find new things in order to increase knowledge.

Ambition:  You have some strong personal goal that you work towards.  And to achieve that goal, you'll need money, power, reputation, and connections.  If you ever achieve that goal, you'll likely set a new, higher one and keep pushing yourself ever onwards.

Pride:  They told you you couldn't.  They told you you'd be crazy to try.  They told you you'd be dead within a week.  You're going to prove them all wrong, or die trying.

Envy:  There are others who are better gunslingers, better magicians, better star-pilots.  There are others with more money, or a bigger magic sword, or cooler gadgets, or the bevy of hot men/women surrounding them.  But one day, it will be yours.  Oh yes, it will be yours.

Heroism:  You venture into the wilds because someone needs to.  Someone needs to slay the dragon, or blow up the space station, or bring down the megacorp.  You may not want to be the one who has to do it, but the situation has thrust that responsibility upon you.  Or maybe you did seek it out willingly.  Either way, you're 'that guy.'

Restlessness:  You just can't be satisfied with the boring life you were born to.  Instead of sitting behind a desk or milking the cows, you've got a need to head out and see what's out there.  The thought of being eaten by grues or blasted to molecules by deathbots is less frightening than the idea of staying put.

Protection:  You head out to face the dangers of the world so that the good folks back home don't have to.  You'd rather not have to deal with the horrors of the encroaching outer dark, or the rampaging orcs, or the rise of the galactic emperor, but better you than Aunt May and your good old Gaffer.

Rivalry:  You enjoy wealth, or having bards sing your praises across the land, but your real driving motivation is that you do what you do before the other guys do it first.  Whether it's a race to find a sacred relic before the Nazis do, a need to prove yourself the most powerful mage in the land, or mapping out the third level of the huge ruined pile before the king's privateers, your sense of competition drives you on.

Alright, this is in no way an exhaustive list (and a few of the distinctions above are rather fine), just what I came up with between sitting down on the subway and getting off again.  If anyone's got any other ideas, feel free to chime in with a comment. 

These ideas do provide fodder for players who like to immerse themselves in their character, while at the same time providing impetus for the characters to participate in the adventures that are what really provide the thrill for less immersive gamers like myself. 

They also fit nicely in a little random chart, for those who like a more 'nearly blank slate' for their characters at the kick-off of a campaign:

Adventuring Motivation Chart (d12) "My character is..."
1. Greedy
2. Power-Hungry
3. Thrill-Seeking
4. Curious
5. Inquisitive
6. Ambitious
7. Proud
8. Covetous
9. Heroic
10. Wanderlustful
11. Protective
12. Competitive

_________
Post Script:  Odd, the words deathbots and wanderlustful didn't set off Firefox's spell check...until I typed them in this post-script.

What exactly does it mean to explore a character?

Once I started up a PbP 3.5 game on RPOL (is it .net or .org?  Don't remember.)  Most of the players were friends, but I left it open to others.

One guy, one of the others, wanted to play.  He was enthusiastic.  I said OK.

He wanted to play a Druid.  Fine.  We were starting at 1st level.  He came back to me with a whole huge back story. 

His PC was the son of a High Druid Priest, who was also a merchant in a caravan, and he had wandered all over the world and seen all sorts of sights in his wanderings.  Now he was coming home to take his place as a druid initiate, and loot tombs for gold, as druid initiates are wont to do.

I could see what he was doing.  It was blatant.  He didn't want to get called out if he tried to wild shape into a python, or an emu, or an unladen African swallow, or whatever.  He wanted to be able to say, "sure, I saw one when I was traveling in the caravan."  No way was I, as DM, gonna screw him over on that!  So he thought.

Then he gives me his goals for the character, vaguely disguised as his 'take' on who this guy was.  He was a natural shapeshifter, more than a spellcaster.  He was in tune with nature, and animals and stuff.  And because of this, he naturally wanted to take the 'natural spell' feat, which was one of the few I'd said at the start I didn't like and wasn't going to allow. 

For those of you not well versed in 3E, Druids don't get Wild Shape (ability to change into animal forms) until 5th level. 

And I repeat, this was a PbP game (S......L.......O......W......!), and we were starting at 1st level.

More recently, in my long prepared but short lived Maritime Campaign, Alex, at character creation, wouldn't be satisfied with the starting options I'd given him.  He wanted more.  And more, and more.  He wasn't satisfied with a +2 sword for his 5th level Fighter.  He thought it was lame.  Maybe I should have given him a max. Int, max. Ego intelligent sword with a bevy of awesome powers (detect minerals!), and just had it control his PC at the first opportunity.  But I'm not that much of a dick.  Anyway, then he wasn't satisfied with the small sailing ship they were getting for free.  He wanted a large sailing ship, or a warship, or preferably a large warship. 

Getting that sort of stuff from the beginning, I wondered, what's left to adventure for?

Now, I've had my share of characters who I came up with the concept first, rolled later.  Or even a few where I've been asked for, and provided, a few pages of back story. 

But I don't have many interesting stories about those characters.  Not the way I do about Belrain, the Chaotic Elf with a penchant for fireballs (especially from wands, or his Staff of Power), or Skarp-Hedin, the Dwarf Fighter-Thief who ended up on the wrong end of too many monster beatings but always managed to pull through.

Long story short, I find that exploring characters is more fun, and more memorable, if it happens in the game.  Doing all that work before hand, then having to hog the limelight during the game to get all that exposition across to the players?  Not so much.  Not being satisfied with the starting conditions of the game, because it doesn't match the idea I've got in my head of who I want this PC to become?  Definitely not. 

I find it similar to the way I don't enjoy 'tournament Magic: The Gathering.'  I always found the game the most fun when waiting to see what I'd pull out this round, what my opponent would do, and the randomness of it.  Having a carefully constructed precision deck where I've got a plan of how I can beat anyone in 8 turns or less?  Boring! 

I enjoy the action and response, the way my character interacts with the other players' PCs, with the DM's world, and with the results of the dice.  In other words, not knowing exactly who this character is--maybe I've got a few ideas, but nothing is certain--does it for me.  Besides, the whole point of 'character exploration' is seeing how that character will change and grow. 

If you've already 'grown' that character before play starts, what is there left to explore?

Your mileage may vary. 

Yes, the Wilderness is dangerous, but not everywhere is wilderness

Alexis has got me thinking.  Probably not as deeply or as meaningfully as he'd like (he's got rather high standards, and I'm too busy with earning both incomes in my two income family to hold myself to such high standards in my leisure activities), but he did get me thinking.

So D&D (OD&D, Classic D&D, AD&D), as you all know, comes with both Dungeon and Wilderness Random Encounter tables.

Now, those Wilderness Encounter tables include chances to meet everything from a few wild deer to ancient red dragons as you wander from place to place.  And as Alexis points out, by using them as written, how could a merchant caravan ever get from one city to another without being pillaged by 6-60 orcs, a small troupe of frost giants, or a wing of griffons?

But let's take a look at what the charts really are.  They're tables for things you might meet in the wilderness, not just while taking a stroll through Farmer Maggot's cornfield.

In the Dominion system in Frank Mentzer's Companion Set, he divides up areas into Civilized, Borderland, and Wilderness.  I get a feeling (just a feeling, I've got nothing to back this up quote-wise) that he may have gotten this from Gary (Keep on the Borderland being the artifact that makes me think this).

If this was the intention of the game's creators, we can assume that any game setting should have areas on the world map that are 'wilderness' and areas that are not.

If we divide up any map into Civilized, Borderland, and Wilderness areas [mapping to the alignments of Law--Neutrality--Chaos, interestingly] we'd have Civilized areas where you're likely not going to run into anything besides human-types and normal animals.  Merchants, pilgrims, soldiers, wandering minstrels, peasants, etc.  Very similar to town/city encounter charts.

In Borderlands, things are getting a bit more wild.  There will be more monsters, demi-humans, and giant animals encountered, but still plenty of human-types.  And most likely there won't be many overpoweringly difficult monsters.

In the Wilderness--the true wilderness--anything goes.  Human-types will become scarce, and those that do appear will most likely be other adventuring types or 'monster' humans like bandits, brigands, pirates, etc.

But what about those merchants that need to travel through the Wilds to get from Port Gunthar to Oxcross?  Well, that's what roads are for.  Or charted rivers.  Or established sea lanes.  A well-patrolled and maintained road would count as at worst Borderland, and may be considered Civilized all along its length.

The benefits?  Well, first, you've got a bit of verisimilitude in that unlike early CRPGs, your characters aren't the only non-monsters outside of towns.  There's also both in-game and meta-game reasons why monsters aren't eating every commoner who tries to go on a little trip.

Second, it provides players with a way to judge their risk/reward, similar to dungeon levels.

Third, it makes decision points on the map.  Do we take the long King's Road to Oxcross, or try to save two day's travel by cutting through the Haunted Woods?

Fourth, it reinforces the feeling of Law vs. Chaos as trying to tame the wilderness/wreck civilization, rather than just pseudonyms for good and evil.

Tackling the Megadungeon: Conquest!

Continued from here.

The final round of mead was poured out.  Lord Gusorio was looking fairly tipsy, and his small audience were feeling the mead spinning in their heads as well.  But when the baron launched into one more bit of advice rolled into a tale of his adventuring days, they came to attention and made sure to remember what he said.  The stories he told could save their lives.
The baron said, "After we'd been scouting the fourth level for some time, we realized it would take too much effort to haul all of that treasure up to the surface, at least until we'd found the secret exit we'd heard rumor of.  So we ended up clearing out a small section with only one entrance.  Shalea magicked the door.  We posted a few of our men-at-arms as additional guards.  Then we had ourselves a nice little fall-back point on that level.  We went back to town, gathered as many supplies as we could, and stocked it well. 
"Whenever we found a bit of treasure on that level, or on the fifth as well--it took us some time to find that secret exit from the fourth--we would bring it to our strong point.  Of course, having that strong point meant we needed to keep it supplied, and we had to pay quite a bit extra to all the men-at-arms who guarded it.  But it saved us the trouble of having to lug all those coins all the way up every time we secured a treasure chest..."

Sometimes, you want to make the dungeon, or at least a small part of it, your own.  In Gary Gygax's original Greyhawk campaign, several of the prominent characters cleared out and took over the 1st level of that dungeon.  They stocked it with their followers, and then charged a tax on other adventurers venturing through.

Maybe you don't need to take over an entire level, but taking and holding territory within the dungeon can be beneficial.  As Zanazaz pointed out in the comments to my original post in this series, a dungeon can make a great bolt hole for PCs who've gotten in trouble back in the hometown.  It's hard enough to find men-at-arms willing to venture forth with a group of adventurers.  The local law enforcement officials will have a hell of a time trying to get a posse of Normal Men to go track them down.

As I posted in my example, strong points within the dungeon, held by a combination of magic and steel, make for the ideal place for treasure to be stored, healing and spell rememorization to be done, and so on.

And sometimes you might just want to clear out a hazardous area of monsters, then seal it shut to keep them from coming back, and to keep anything new from moving in in the future.  Most Megadungeons are so big that clearing them completely would be near impossible, but small sections can be managed in times of need.

Of course, the group venturing forth to conquer some part of the dungeon is going to need to be ready for quite a bit of combat to get rid of all the monsters in their chosen section.  Spells that can bar access, like Wizard Lock or Wall of Stone are good choices, too.  And a bunch of Elves, or a wand of secret door detection might also be a good idea.  It won't do much good to secure all the obvious entrances to your new mini-lair only to have a secret passage you don't know about inside it.

Of course, making that lair behind an already known secret door is also a great idea.  Especially if you can find an area with several small rooms behind it, and no other secret entrances, you'll have plenty of space for bunking down, storing gear and treasure, and setting up a small kitchen area.  Watch out for ventilation problems, though, especially if you have one of those types of DMs who wants you to worry about that sort of thing...

Tackling the Megadungeon: "Specials"

Continued from here.

Baron Gusorio finished off another cup of the fine mead.  He sat quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts.  His rapt audience waited patiently for the gray haired man to continue with his rambling advice.  Already, thoughts were spinning through their heads of the great adventures they would have.
Lord Gusorio finally continued.  "I told you about how we rescued Shalea and then had to get her werewolf curse removed.  Another time, we'd found a fountain in the dungeon--on the third or fourth level, I believe--that could cure diseases.  It was hard to get to, though.  There were lots of slimes and molds in the area, and creatures that fed off of those disgusting lowest forms of life.  Well, after we ran into a pair of mummies on the sixth level, Vertosh the Dwarf and I had caught the mummy rot.  We hauled out all the good treasures from the mummy tomb, gave the others a bit of time to rest and heal up, then set off again to find that pool so we could get rid of our affliction...

I think most DMs and module writers have a lot of fun with the 'special' encounters within a dungeon.  They're the oddities, curiosities, magical zones, and weird stuff that tends to be fairly memorable.  Unlike 'orc encounter #38" a room with howling winds from nowhere and a narrow bridge over a lava pit tends to stick in your mind.  They're sometimes challenging, sometimes bizarre, and sometimes useful.

Often they're just discovered randomly, during exploration (scouting), or they're searched out after learning that they might exist (fact-finding).  But once they're known, and properties of them assessed, they can become useful tools for a party of adventurers.

Like in my example above, curative sites or magical 'buffing' sites can be worth visiting over and over again.  Making a small sacrifice at a shrine to a battle deity might result in a free Bless spell before tackling a dragon or other big monster.  A pool that turns the bather invisible might also be a favorite spot to visit.  There could be a machine (or monster?) that takes in coinage and spits out gems of equal value, making treasure easier to carry.  These sorts of specials are most useful if visited as part of another type of expedition.

But there are times when the 'special' might be worth going to all of itself.  Portals to distant lands or other planes may lie within the dungeon.  A monstrous sage (gold dragons, hsiao, djinn, etc.) may lair within the dungeon, and the party may need to seek out that sage's wisdom.  Perhaps a character has a curse that can only be removed at a specific special location within the dungeon.

If the former, characters will want to prepare for the expedition based on their primary type of expedition.  If visiting that invisibility pool while scouting, leather armor and utility spells are likely best.  But if getting invisible as a way to surprise the Frost Giant Ysgeir and ensure a free round to 'soften him up' then it should be plate armor, fire balls, and all that jazz.

In the later case, getting to the 'special' and then home again is the objective, so only what equipment known to be necessary to reach that area should be brought, and the party will likely not need to bring along lots of men-at-arms or the like.  The Fighters may be armored up in case of surprises, and the spell-casters may want a variety of spells, as those annoying random encounters are likely to be the only battles fought (assuming the party has scouted the area well enough to avoid any new monsters that may have moved in since they discovered the area).  But the expedition will likely tend to be a short one.

Concluded here.

Tackling the Megadungeon: Acquisition

Continued from here.

Lord Gusorio proceeded to show off some of his personal treasures to his small audience of would-be adventurers.  A large ruby ring, emerald-studded bracelet, an ebony locket on a silver chain, and of course his intricately carved wooden leg - made of rare teak, it was set with a line of pearls down the front and the etchings on it showed scenes from the baron's life as an adventurer.
"Of course you know the basics of what to do when you secure a treasure hoard.  Take the gems and jewelry, plus anything that might be magical first.  Then fill up with coins from most valuable down to least.  You need to make sure that you don't get overloaded, though.  All that treasure is heavy, and slows you down.
"Once, we managed to wipe out a nest of minotaurs on the fifth level, and they had two huge chests of treasure.  We had hired several men-at-arms, but even with their help one chest was too large to move.  So we had to get creative..."

The point of a dungeon exploration is getting the treasure.  That's where most of your experience points come from, assuming you're playing OD&D, Classic D&D, or 1E AD&D, or keeping the 1gp=1XP rule in some other edition.  By the book, coins are given an unnatural encumbrance value of 1 coin being equal to 1/10 of a pound.  Very few real world coins were ever so large.  But that's part of the logistical/resource management challenge of a megadungeon game.  It's not supposed to be easy to get all that loot to the surface.

So what is a smart party to do?  Carry out what you can the first time you defeat a monster or trap that guards some treasure, of course.  But if you can, you'll want to come back for the rest as soon as possible.  If you don't, wandering monsters, other NPCs, or just the general other-worldliness of the megadungeon will mean it all disappears.

That's why it's important, especially for low level parties, to equip hirelings and retainers with backpacks and bags.  The more people in the party, the more treasure that can be recovered.  Some groups also may elect to have one or two characters and some men-at-arms remain in the dungeon to guard the treasure while the rest of the party carries out what they can.  It's risky to split a party, and to leave some of the members below for an extended time (not to mention bad for retainer morale), but if the hoard is extremely large, then there are times when a group may decide it's worth it.

As groups gain more power, magic of course will come to the rescue.  Spells like Floating Disk increase carrying capacity.  Invisibility and illusion spells can hide a treasure in plain sight.  Bags of holding allow for large amounts of loot to be carried out easily.  Teleport can allow for quick exit and return (if the area of the treasure is studied enough beforehand to minimize the risk of error...). 

Of course, other ways to remove treasure can be to get creative.  Bring mules or carts/wheelbarrows into the dungeon, if possible.  Charm a big strong monster and get it to carry stuff for you.  Secure a small section of the dungeon and leapfrog the treasure from room to room with a 'bucket brigade' of hirelings, sealing it off with a Wizard Locked door when the party needs to return to the surface so it will still be there when you return, and it will be that much closer to the exit.

The key thing to remember on such expeditions into the dungeon is that speed is necessary to get to the treasure (assuming it's one that's already been secured through combat or disabling of a trap and you're returning for more), but the return will be slow.  It's usually best to have all the manpower possible, both to carry out more, and to better guard it until you get it home.

Continued here.

Tackling the Megadungeon: Rescue

Continued from here.

The old baron smiled broadly, a new sparkle in his weary brown eyes.  Was the mead finally getting to him?  He ordered another bottle of mead from the valet, then continued with his reminiscences.  "Did I tell you the tale of Shalea the Sorceress?  She joined our party for a time, but on her second delve she was captured by what we thought were brigands.  We had been scouting, so we weren't prepared to fight them.
"We went out, rearmed, hired a half-dozen stout men-at-arms, and returned for her.  We weren't looking to route the brigands, just to get Shalea back.  We chased off the brigands after a bit rougher fight than we were expecting, but got her.  Then we high-tailed it out of there.
"Then, as we were recovering from the battle, we noticed a few odd things about Shalea.  She was changed.  And on the next full moon, we found out how.  The men we thought to be brigands were actually werewolves.  And that's how our second rescue mission for Shalea began.."

Monsters like to capture humans and demi-humans.  Some for food, some for slaves, some to sacrifice to dark gods, some just for the fun of collecting even.  DMs love a good 'so and so has been captured' or 'I'll reward you for rescuing my daughter' type adventure hook.  So there comes a time in most adventurers' careers where they need to enter the dungeon with the goal of bringing someone back out safely.

These expeditions are usually fairly similar to combat missions.  The prisoners are likely to be guarded well, so some fighting might be in order.  But a group may want to try and sneak in and sneak out to avoid a rough battle.

Obviously each group will need to plan the entry part as best suits their needs and party strengths.  The important part of rescue missions is getting the rescued folks out alive again.

Whatever captured the victims, if not eliminated by combat, may likely pursue.  And there are plenty of other denizens of the dungeons, especially those pesky wandering monsters.  The party can't depend on the victim being combat-ready (even if they're a player character, they may be low in hit points, out of spells, stripped of their weapons and armor, etc.).  So it becomes a game of protecting the rescuees and getting them out of the dungeon as fast as possible.

Higher level groups with access to spells like teleport and word of recall will have it a bit easier, as they can use those magics to get out (or at least get the rescuees and the caster out--the rest of the party might still need to get out the old fashioned way, if there are a lot of folks to rescue).  For lower level groups, there's consolation in the fact that you're likely not that deep in the dungeon, and hopefully you've done enough scouting before hand that you know several ways up and out.

Very similar to the rescue mission is the capture mission.  Sometimes, there may be a monster or NPC in the dungeon that the party wishes to capture.  A wizard may be offering a reward for a live rhagodessa.  The Duke may wish to bring a vile necromancer to trial to show the populace he's dealt with the villain.  There's plenty of profit (and plenty of danger) in trying to subdue a dragon.  A party that does manage to capture a creature will similarly need to guard it--both to prevent it from escaping, but also prevent other creatures from getting it as a snack.  So again, how the party chooses to enter the dungeon may vary, but the important thing is being able to get out quickly.

Continued here.

Tackling the Megadungeon: Combat

Continued from here.

Lord Gusorio rubbed his left knee, just above the spot where the wooden leg began.  "Yes, it was against the dragon Grondsvettir that I lost my leg.  It was our last delve into the dungeon, and for the most part it went as planned.  I didn't intend to let the dragon feast on my left foot as its last meal, but we came away from that battle with enough wealth for me to complete this castle, and for my companions to retire comfortably."
The grizzled baron pauses to have his valet refill his mead cup.  He takes a long pull and then looks into the hearth fire.  "We were just about as prepared as we could have been against old Grondsvettir.  We had all the potions and scrolls we thought we'd need.  Aldarus was wielding the dragon-slaying sword Gram.  Rashni had her ring of invisibility and winged boots.  Garus had memorized all the right spells.  We'd scouted out the lair while the wyrm was out hunting, and thought we knew exactly the right place to take it on.  
"Not everything went well in that fight, but because of that planning, we managed to pull through.  And the dragon is no more."

So many people think of combat as the heart of D&D.  And I do admit, it's quite fun.  You're risking your character's life against wicked villains and fearsome monsters.  It comes down to the luck of the dice, but the odds can be stacked in your favor.  Careful scouting can be one way to do that.  Getting all the information one can about the creatures to be faced (if known), about the layout of the dungeon (and choosing the spot to fight that's best for you), and planning some tactics before hand can help out even if the dice are being cruel.

I likely don't need to say too much more about this sort of mission.  It seems to be what most folks expect and plan for when they enter the dungeon.  Sleep and Fire Ball spells can end lots of fights quickly, so Magic-Users tend to prepare those spells 'just in case' on many dungeon delves anyway.  Fighters are there pretty much just for the fights.

Because the combat rules are some of the most spelled out rules in the game (even in fairly rules light versions of D&D like Basic), it's an area that's easy to get a handle on.  But there are still some pointers that adventuring parties should keep in mind when going into the dungeon intending to pick a fight.

Power in Numbers:  Don't scrimp on hiring men-at-arms or retainers to join an expedition when you're sure there's going to be combat.  They might just get in the way or tip off the monsters on a scouting or fact-finding mission, but when you're ready to tackle some monster or other, they provide extra offense (even if their chances to hit aren't great, you're still rolling attack dice more often, and that's always a good thing), extra defense (monster attacks get spread around), and if victorious extra carrying capacity to haul out more loot.

Pick Your Battles:  Often a party ventures forth into a dungeon ready to take on whatever monsters they meet.  But in a Megadungeon setting, there may be many monsters that don't need to be faced.  Friendly or indifferent reactions from some monsters can be used to your advantage.  Either try to get their help against some other hostile creatures, or just leave them be.  Hostile monsters with no treasure should be avoided as much as possible, as well.  Again, try to avoid those random encounters.  They'll wear the party down before the fight you want to face, and after you're finished with that fight you'll want to get out of the dungeon as soon as possible with that loot anyway.

Know When Enough is Enough:  If a group of creatures break morale and run, don't pursue unless they're running away with something valuable.  If you've come up victorious in a hard fought battle, but are low on hit points, spells, and magic item uses, don't push on to that 'one more room.'  Head back out, heal up, and rearm and regroup.  Yeah, that means at low levels, a smart party may want to do that after every encounter.  Well, it may not be fun for all, but it works.

Always Be Prepared:  In certain versions of the game, or certain campaign worlds, potions and scrolls can be easily purchased.  Of course healing magics are nice, but also consider things like scrolls of protective spells like Shield or Protection from Arrows, potions of growth, giant strength and heroism (nice boosts for the Fighter-types), and any of the Protection scrolls if you're up against that sort of monster.  If you've chosen the battle ground and will be instigating the fight, use these before the throw-down, so you don't waste valuable combat rounds buffing up when you could be swinging swords or casting offensive magics.

Continued here.

Tackling the Megadungeon: Fact Finding

Continued from here.

Lord Gusorio sipped his mead and smiled broadly.  "The finest giant bee's honey, turned into the finest drink.  You know, there's a story behind this brew."
The young treasure hunters leaned in, awaiting yet another tale of the baron's adventures with his famous companions.  Gusorio paused to savor their attention for a moment, just as he savored his honey wine.  Finally, he spoke.  "Rashni had heard a rumor from some vagabonds who'd tried their luck in the Great Dungeon.  They said there was an enormous hive of giant bees deep in the third level.  From what exploring we'd done on that level, we knew there were plenty of bees flying around here and there.
"Well, one time, we set out into the dungeon to track down that bee hive.  We wanted the honey to make healing potions.  You know Old Helga says it's good for that.  Well, we got the honey, and we fermented it and got the best mead in the kingdom instead of healing potions..."

Sometimes, a party hears a rumor about the dungeon.  Or they discover a treasure map that promises great reward.  Or they've discovered something early on that didn't benefit them at the time, but some mishap has occurred and they wonder if it might help now.  So they set out into the dungeon with the express purpose of finding out if the information at hand is correct or not.

This sort of expedition is similar to a scouting party, but differs in a few important ways.  First of all, on a scouting mission, the party may have an objective, but it's usually fairly vague.  "Let's find a stairway down to the second level."  "Let's see what's down the long corridor that leads south from the owlbear's lair."  "Let's finally map the Twisting Maze."

On a Fact Finding expedition, the party has a bit more specific information.  It may not be true (rumors often are not, and maps can be out of date), but at least it's something solid to shoot for.  The party may have found a rumor of a rich treasure, a magic item, a fountain of healing, a friendly or at least neutral monster that acts as a sage, or who knows what else?  For whatever reason, the players want to find out if it's true, and take advantage of it.  Sometimes, they may just be curious if such a thing exists (and using Jeff Rients' exploration XP awards can actually make this valuable to the players as well).

On such an expedition, the party may decide to equip themselves as if on a scouting expedition--lightly armed and armored, and with enough utility magic to tackle logistical problems.  But at the same time, a more mixed approach might be best.  To find that mystery, a few battles may be unavoidable.  In such cases, some heavy armor for the Fighters and Clerics is always good.  A sleep spell or fire ball might not hurt, either.

Fact Finding Missions are sort of like many site-based dungeon modules, in that the group usually has a certain goal, an idea of how they might achieve it, and they're not just out to bust a few skulls and fill their coin purses.  But because it's happening in a Megadungeon environment, it's often something the players decide to do themselves, rather than simply being the result of a plot hook thrown out there by the DM.

Continued here.

Tackling the Megadungeon 1: Scouting

Continued from here.

Lord Gusorio pulled up his seat close to the fire, and beckoned the young group of adventurers near.  A servant poured mead for the lord, then passed cups to the motley crew gathered to hear the words of the local baron, who was a renowned explorer in his own day.
"You want to explore the Great Dungeon?" the baron asked.  "Let me tell you something.  I've seen lots of young, brave but foolish folk try it.  My companions and I succeeded where they failed.  How?  By knowing what we were getting ourselves into, that's how."

When a group of adventurers first venture into any dungeon, they're often going in blind.  They have no maps, little certain knowledge of the place, and sometimes only the vaguest of goals (fight some monsters and get rich from their treasure being a common one).  It never hurts to find out what might be down there before you try to tackle it.

A smart group of players, therefor, will usually spend some time scouting a dungeon (we're assuming a megadungeon environment here, not a one-off site based adventure).  It makes sense for the party to go in, find out what's there, then go back and plan how to best tackle those challenges.  Parties should explore the unknown slowly, and as stealthily as possible.  It's best not to alert or anger any monsters that they aren't prepared to face, especially if they don't know whether those monsters have any treasure or not.  Especially in systems where gold=XP, knowing where the treasure is tells you what you need to fight and what you don't.

Scouting also has another advantage.  Dungeons tend to have traps, but well-designed dungeons will tend to have multiple ways into or out of any area.  If there's a trap blocking access to the next area, careful scouting may reveal a way around it without taking the risk of setting off the trap.  This is also true of areas guarded by creatures without any loot.

One area where characters need to weigh their options when scouting is in the choices of armor worn and spells memorized.  Those able to wear heavy armors might be tempted to go ahead and wear their plate mail. But wearing leather armor (for the Clerics, Fighters, and Demi-Humans) means the whole party is quieter, and faster.  You're not looking to pick up loads of treasure, and you're not looking for a fight.  Being faster and less noisy can be a good thing, even if not everyone in the party can Move Silently or Hide in Shadows.

Magic-Users always feel the desire to memorize the powerful low level spells like Sleep and Phantasmal Force. But there are some other good options for scouting as well.  Especially, the 2nd level spells Invisibility, Knock, and Locate Object are great for scouting missions.  Light is always a good choice for a Magic-User or Cleric to take as well, in case torches or lanterns need to be doused quickly to avoid detection.


Of course, one of the biggest challenges when scouting are wandering monsters.  They're unexpected, they rarely have treasure, and the more time you spend in the dungeon, the more likely you are to encounter them.  And a party that's equipped to scout effectively may not be best equipped to deal with them.  For that reason, scouting missions should usually be fairly quick affairs.  Go in, check out some new terrain, map it, make any notes or observations you can, and get out.  Especially if there's a wandering monster encounter that can't be avoided, after it's over it's likely time to leave.

I remember reading somewhere about how Rob Kuntz would play his Fighter Robilar when he had solo sessions with Gary Gygax.  Robilar would enter Castle Greyhawk, and explore silently as possible.  He would never open any doors if he could avoid it, always listened at corners or used a mirror, and tried to see what was there to be seen.  Then, armed with whatever information he'd picked up on those solo treks, he'd come back later with a party to deal with any of the threats he'd gotten hints of on those trips.

There are benefits to scouting, to be sure.

Continued here.

How to tackle a Megadungeon

I've been thinking that I need to write up something about how to play in a Megadungeon campaign.  Likely most of you reading this will already be familiar with this sort of play style (even if it's just from reading some great posts on other blogs, or at one or another of the old school RPG forums).  But there are plenty of people out there who see a dungeon as boring hack and slash only, and to them 'Megadungeon' equates to "hack-and-slash campaign" which they want nothing to do with.

Sean of Tales from the Flaming Faggot is going to start a series of posts discussing Sun Tzu's The Art of War and how it relates to gaming.  I don't want to steal his thunder, but I will just recommend this classic treatise on strategy to all of you.  Likely he'll cover most of these points in detail.

And if there are any ideas I've missed, please chime in in the Comments below!

• Scouting Missions:  You're going into the dungeon to explore some new territory, find out where monsters and traps are so they may be avoided, and hopefully also learn where some treasure is located.  You want to avoid fights, avoid detection, and just add a bit to your map and knowledge of the dungeon.
• Fact Finding Missions:  You've heard a rumor of something you want to investigate in the dungeon.  Similar to scouting, but you've got a set goal to achieve, rather than just exploring as much new territory as you can.
• Combat Missions:  There's a certain monster, or monsters, standing between you and the treasure, or just generally giving you grief.  It's time to take them down.  Load for bear, and go down there with swords blazing.
• Rescue Missions:  A comrade fell, townspeople have disappeared, the princess has been led to be sacrificed to the dragon, etc.  You've got to go and get them back.  
• Acquisition Missions:  You know where the treasure is (from scouting, a map, or just dumb luck), and if you're lucky what guards it.  Now's the time to bring that rich stuff up to the surface.
• "Special" Missions:  Someone's got a curse, or was level drained, or needs a certain spell for their spellbook, etc.  There's a 'special encounter' room tailor made for this, and you're gonna find it and use it.

Of course, sometimes a party might want to tackle two or even three of these at the same time, but it's best, especially at lower levels, to stick to just one.  

I think a lot of gamers end up thinking a dungeon should just be tackled all at once because of a lot of modules.  In a tournament situation, you don't have time to go in and out of the dungeon, re-arming, changing spells, etc.  Since many early modules were tournament scenarios, this tends to skew the idea of what a 'dungeon delve' is supposed to be.  But with a Megedungeon, you're going to be going into the place time and time again, so why not tackle the dungeon in moderation?

I think I'll spend this week posting about each of these types of 'mission' in a bit more detail.  And like I said, if there are any ideas I've missed, let me know.  I could use some ideas for next week, too!

Continued Here

Schrodinger's Keys

I've been thinking a lot about my megadungeon, and I've come to one conclusion.  I like the idea that every locked door should have a key somewhere.  I don't like the idea of having to place, sort, and track all of these keys.  Seriously, with hundreds of rooms per level, that's a lot of potential locked doors and treasure chests and whatnot.

So, never one to shy away from a video game reference (especially relating to the old 8- and 16-bit machines), I'm going with a video game approach to keys.

Find a key in my megadungeon, and it's like Schrodinger's Cat.  It both is and isn't the key to any particular lock until the moment it's used in one.  Then it is the key to that lock (and disappears...).

I figure this will save me lots of hassles, and will also not screw over the Thief.  Thieves' Open Locks skill (and the Knock spell) become ways to save resources.  If a party has found three keys, but knows of several locked and unopened doors/chests, every time the Thief manages to successfully pick a lock, they've saved a key for future use.  And if the Thief fails, they can use a key they've found to open the lock anyway.

Keys would become another logistical resource management issue, rather than a headache of trying to remember if the key Blackwolf the Dragon Master took from the ogre in Level 3 Room 114 opened the door to the chest in Level 2 room 27 or the door to the Bone Cathedral in Level 7. 

Down side?  There go any sort of interesting locks/keys specials.  Or at least it makes them harder to pull off without hurting immersion.