Timers and Pressure in a Campaign

 I haven’t posted for almost two weeks now, but I wanted to continue my story about campaign structure with a talk about Timers and Pressure.

 

I think pressure is very important in a campaign. If the players are too slow to react or go on their own side missions too many times, there should be consequences. These consequences could be mostly in the BBEG completing a part of their plan and succeeding in their goals. For this the BBEG does need a bit of a plan. I would say, to not make things too difficult for a DM, a loose one. You need an end goal and you could brainstorm some things they would need for that end goal. But working towards that end goal with the BBEG is a big part of putting pressure on for the players.

Next to that I think that taking the pressure away at key moments can also do a lot. If the players have just foiled one of the BBEG’s plans they might have a moment to rest and feast. This would be a gift for the players that have been in such stress all the time. Give them some time to shop, or to do their own personal actions in the world.

 

I was playing in a game of Maze Rats (now we play Knave) in Hot Springs Island, where we got a lot of freedom to explore, but we were also very squishy and afraid of any confrontation. There was a looming danger above us, but there was no pressure, as we had all the time to explore the island and make allies and enemies there. After a while pressure was introduced and with that a world timer in which we had to solve a puzzle.

In this case, I think we had too many sessions of ‘going nowhere’ with the game. Although I enjoy the game a lot, I felt without an end goal, it would be better to just leave the island the moment we could. Now the pressure is on and the game has become a lot more interesting again.

You could say the first sessions were needed to introduce the island to us. I think that would be a fair point, but still there would need to be a timer of some sorts that ticks away. Otherwise you’re just running without direction.

 

In my Frost Shepherds game, the campaign I DMed, I had a hidden timer. The Herald of Spring was captured by Winter Fey, and they would have killed him if the players took too long. This hidden timer didn’t work right, because it was hidden and I didn’t have much of a chance to unveil it. That the eternal winter was caused by the kidnapping of the Herald was one of the big twists. Next time, I want the players to make sure that they know things are at stake and time is ticking away.

 

Next to that I think it’s always fun to use timers in battle and in sessions. They really put the pressure on for the players when they find out. Examples I’ve used were:

-          Survive 15 turns and keep someone safe in those turns, no attack may land on the NPC.

-          Every few turns a new body part of the monster gets resurrected and the monster will grow stronger each time.

-          In four turns of being in this mist you choke .

-         In 1d4 rounds ... happens.

Although this is different than a world timer, or putting pressure on for the campaign, I think they go hand in hand quite well together.

 

For my next campaign I want to make a bit of a calendar with things happening. Natural disasters will happen anyway, but some of the other miseries can be dealt with by the players. I’ll make sure the pressure is real and tangible and that timers will be out in the open, so the choices they make feel more difficult.

Session Prep; two sheets to fill in

Some while ago I made an Encounter Sheet with a basic questionnaire to help me think about the encounters I was making. Back then I was very unhappy that most of my encounters didn't matched up with the wants I had in my head: using more of the environment in combat and putting more tension in my games. I made a basic sheet that I could fill in that would tick all these checkboxes and some more. The following games were better games in my view. I had thought deeper and more serious about my encounters. 

After working more than a year with this Encounter Prep document, I now decided to make a Session Prep document and also update my Encounter Prep with some new categories (NPC, and consequences).

Also noticing I have a Bachelor degree in Literary and Cultural Analysis that I wasn't using, I tried to put some of my favorite structuralist narratology tools in my document. I used the Actantial Model and the Semiotic Square of Greimas and pasted the 31 Russian fairy tale tropes of Vladimir Propp in there, to see if I can spice things up a bit in my games. I think all of these tools fit D&D real good. Then I made an easy questionnaire to fill in to uncover the story structure and help with improvising during the game (NPC names, things of interest to explore).

The prep document became 4 pages long, which is quite a bit, and should be printed double-sided to bring to the game. Here you can find the link to my google drive: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dsc8bEa5Yv_0bOwZFX3xaWhwb1QIBxdo/view?usp=sharing

Session prep tools:

I feel like I should explain more about the tools I put in the first two pages of the document. The Actantial Model is maybe quite clear. It shows a story structure that can be filled in on lots of ways. 

The sender is in D&D often the quest giver, and wants and knows about an object (could also be knowledge, or somewhat more broader as 'life' and 'death of a monster'). They send the subject (the party) on their way to get it. The object is the desire of the party, it's what they are on the quest for. They are helped by some things on their way (equipment, but also followers/NPC's) and are opposed by some powers (monsters, traps, puzzles, villains). If the party, the subject, gets the object, who will gain from it? The receiver. Probably the party a bit, as in a treasure reward, but also often the sender. 

This will easily uncover which parts of the story are important and who is in which role of the story.

Then we have the Semiotic Square, which is  more difficult to explain why it's in my Session prep document. It's a brainstorming tool for me, to see if you can give a fun twist to some of the tropes that are often used. For example, you could fill in Life in the top-left corner and Death in the top-right as a binary opposition. Things are getting interested as non-life can also be Undead in D&D, and non-death (things that never lived) can maybe be Constructs. Now, if I was to make a session about the fountain of life, I could make this square and think: Maybe I'll put a Lich there that is also searching for it (maybe to destroy the fountain?), but I'm also placing some Constructs (Golems) there that protect the Fountain from any visitors. In that way the Semiotic Square creates new connections to words I wouldn't have thought of before.

Another example would be: Cold opposite to Heat. Non-cold could be something with water and non-heat could be a heartless thing (with free poetic associations). So maybe I'm sending my party towards a cold landscape, where they find a heartless thing, a water elemental, that can use the geysers in the landscape to send scorching bolts to the players. This example leans a lot of association, but it works for me, and I would like to use it.

Then we have the 31 tropes of Vladimir Propp, who researched Russian Fairy Tales in the 1920's and reduced them to several tropes that came back every time. I think this is useful because some of the tropes are almost never seen in D&D and some are put in there a lot. Basically the stories body part always comes back, until the point where the villain is defeated. But it might be fun to do something with the other tropes too.

Encounter prep tools:

This is my Encounter Prep Document, which is much clearer than the tools in the session prep.

 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ewSoJRMJ7tF9nStwQ06huSZmBIyvLUCf/view?usp=sharing

Map just gives some room to draw a small map, Location, obstacle and goal are quite easy to fill is. Location is the place of the encounter (A cave, the forge, bridge). Obstacle is what the party needs to overcome (monster, puzzle, trap) and goal is what they need to receive (a magical item, a chest, a door).

Damage, duration and distortion control are tools from Runehammer on Youtube, measured on a d6. It basically points out how much control you as a DM have on the damage, duration of the fight and the distortion that is happening during. 

Treats, Threats and Timers are also a Runehammer tool, though I changed timer into Tension. There needs to be a tension to push the players, give them a Treat (treasure or something to help overcome the obstacle with) and it's nice if there is a Threat (a monster or something that pushes the party to the limit).

Then we have some room for one or more NPCs to be in the scene and write down the consequences of the party makes it or fails. Not every fail has to be death!

So far my session and encounter prep. Hope you enjoyed it, and continue reading my blog.