The Great Escape

Last week, I wrote about a couple of ideas on how to extend an adventure that has PCs seeking and finding a boss creature in its base of operations. This runs the usual path of having the PCs start from outside a location, with the crux of the adventure challenging them to work their way in.

This post will propose the idea of flipping that notion, and instead of working their way in, share a couple of ways the adventure could be having PCs find their way out of a location.

Before talking about those steps, it’s important to first take a step back and thoroughly consider how PCs get into the location you want them to escape from. How they get there may play a large part in the plan of how they can get out.

Getting In

Mysterious Portal

The PCs find some lost, ancient artifact, and upon triggering it, get transported to some lost, ancient place.

Captured

The PCs are on their way to confront the next Big Bad, but get overpowered and captured before they get to it, or when they get to it.

Unknown

The PCs are having a normal meal together at a tavern, when suddenly they get knocked out from an unknown source.

SHTF

Somewhere, somehow, somebody done something wrong, and the shit hits the fan in the form of some terrible cataclysm.

Once the ‘how they get there’ plans are in place, you have a starting point from which to grow the ‘how they get out’ adventure. Try these suggestions based on the four above examples.

Getting Out

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mysterious Portal

Ever watched the Dungeons & Dragons TV series? It’s a 1980s cartoon about some ordinary kids who get whisked away to D&D land and become characters and are given special powers and magic items and an annoying little unicorn. The idea is that PC get transported to some place and must find their way back. This premise could be merely one or a few adventures, or could span an entire campaign, much like the cartoon series.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Captured

Taking inspiration from The Great Escape, the PCs get caught and imprisoned in the heart of Big Bad’s stronghold. If war movies don’t inspire you, then think of The Fellowship’s escape from the Mines of Moria, The Escapists video game, or another excellent movie, Escape from Alcatraz. For added complexity, have something pursuing the PCs, something they cannot best in a fight.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unknown

The PC wake up in a single, large, square room, with nothing visible but a single door in the center of each wall, including the floor and ceiling. Does that premise sound familiar? If may if you’ve seen the movie Cube. This is one adventure I’d personally love to run, without the math involved in the movie, of course. Ramp up the suspense by splitting the party and placing each PC in their own room, and have them work towards regrouping. Or not.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SHTF

In Half-Life, Gordon Freeman was having just another ordinary day in the bowels of Black Mesa Research Facility, when a simple experiment caused a resonance cascade, and all hell (or in this case, Xen) broke loose. A similar premise could have PCs actively causing the cataclysm at the location they must now escape from, or simply being bystanders at the location where the event occurs.

These are just a few examples, of course. Pretty much any location PCs could try to get into is also a location they could try to get out of, and is an adventure waiting to be developed and played. Have you DM’d or played in an adventure involving a great escape? Tell us about it in the Comments below, on my Google+ profile, or @RoleplayingDM on Twitter.

Dungeon Defenders

Much of the standard fare of D&D involves the PCs delving into lost dungeons, crypts, lairs, or other various underground locations in an effort to clean and clear it of the evil creatures within. Once they have reached whatever Big Bad rules said location, and have hopefully defeated it, they then merrily gather up the loot and head out to the nearest tavern for some well-deserved R&R.

Do they ever give that location a second thought afterwards? Rarely.

Here are a couple of suggestions on how to flip and extend that tired old encounter.

Scenario 1

The PCs battle creatures and evade traps along one of many paths to get to the heart of the location, where they fight and defeat the Big Bad.

Or so they thought.

That large crystal embedded into the Big Bad’s throne? Upon his death, Big Bad’s soul went into it to patiently wait out until the PCs leave, and he can re-manifest in a few weeks and begin his reign of terror anew.

Good news: the observant mage in the PC group notices the crystal, and divines its purpose. Looks as if destroying the crystal will permanently destroy Big Bad.

Bad news: the crystal is immune to all forms of direct damage. The only way to destroy it is by performing a 12-hour ritual, during which time the mage absolutely must not be disturbed.

More bad news: once Big Bad’s soul entered the crystal, it triggered the major protection spell he had active throughout the location. Magically-hidden doorways and / or portals open up at various points, and release another horde of creatures into the location, all of whom begin slowly advancing towards the heart of the location.

The PC’s role suddenly switches from dungeon attackers to dungeon defenders. It’s now up to the them to decide how to establish and execute a defensive plan for the next 12-hours.

Scenario 2

The PC’s, along with a brigade of the Queen’s elite soldiers, have infiltrated along separate paths to get to the heart of the location to defeat the Big Bad. The PCs accomplish this mission, of course. Thankfully, more than a few of the Queen’s elite also make their way successfully to the heart of the location.

As in the first scenario, the Big Bad’s dead man switch is triggered, except now the PCs have an advantage with the Queen’s elite. The PCs can now direct those soldiers to cover specific entrances, while they either lead or support the soldiers at their points, or rally directly around the mage performing the ritual.

In either scenario, leave some very subtle clues the PC may keep in mind about how they can better plan to stay alive after the trap is triggered. Make Perception rolls when a trap is being inspected, and if highly successful, have the inspector notice that the trap can be easily and quickly reset. Have successful Detect Magic rolls vaguely point to blank spaces of solid wall, where the portals and doors will open once the trap is triggered. Or maybe that quip the bard made about this whole thing being ‘suspiciously easy’ and the seemingly ‘lack of defenses’ causes the group to take some actions before they reach the Big Bad.

How do these dungeon defender ideas sound to you? What ideas do you have, and which ones have you put into play / come up against? Let me know in the Comments below, or send them to me at my Google+ profile (google.com/+RPDMJim), or @RoleplayingDM on Twitter.

RPG Dice Board

RPG Dice Board - A Dice Rolling Gadget for the Modern Age

John Taylor sent you a message:

Hi Jim! My name's John, and I'm writing from Geekify Inc in Boulder, CO. I found your articles on Examiner, and wanted to see if you'd have any interest in what we do. 

We just launched a gaming accessory on Kickstarter that might be up your alley - it's an arcane dice board, reminiscent of the Pop-o-matic Trouble boards. The dice sets are interchangeable, and it's designed to bring tabletop gaming to a whole new level of geekery. We're starting the long grind trying to get attention on the project - I don't know if you ever cover Kickstarters (or their subsequent products), but I figured I'd run it up the flagpole to see if you'd consider it news worthy :). 

More details and pictures here at the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geekifyinc/rpg-dice-board-a-dice-rolling-gadget-for-the-moder 

Let me know if it's something you'd be interested in posting about or finding out more, or if you have any advice or suggestions. Thanks a bunch, and hope talk to you soon! -John

So, what do you think? Interested in knowing more about this product? Let me know, and I'll go get it for you! 

Non-grinding Weapon Finding

A couple days ago, I was thinking about lost things. One instance of those lost things include a bag that was 'misplaced' during a Delta Airlines flight from California to Alabama. While thinking on this, I realized how much losing those items still pained me.

In that lost bag were things that just cannot be replaced, specifically, a pair of my Army boots that had been issued to me during Basic Training, and had then been worn by me during Operations Desert Shield / Desert Storm. I had purposefully kept them highly serviceable during all those years and afterwards 'cause I had the plan to one day have them bronzed and passed on to my daughter, along with the Army duffle bag itself, which had also followed the same path as the boots.

So, naturally, that line of thinking lead into thinking about the danger DMs face when handing out magic items in their campaigns. Yeah, that's how my mind works.

We DMs must adhere to a strict balance of power and possession when it comes to doling out magic items, so as not to tilt the weights (too drastically) in favor of one or the other, thereby turning the campaign into a Hollywood movie farce. Unless that's the theme of the campaign you're running, of course.

There is another balance that DMs must always keep in mind, and that is keeping what you want your players to experience balanced with what the players want their characters to experience. Magic items are one of the ways DMs can keep this balance in check, and when used properly, can keep players excited for the next adventure, and will also keep your campaign from falling into the 'just another grindfest' trap.

A great time to think about how magic weapons are going to factor into the campaign setting, and possibly the characters' experiences, is during the campaign creation process, right from the start. Presuming a standard, run-of-the-mill D&D setting, players will probably begin their characters with basic, non-magical weapons. Now, how does a DM work in a fresh approach for the characters to obtain magic weapons without the sessions becoming a boring kill evil things - get magic weapon - wash - rinse - repeat cycle?

Here are two methods I recommend:

1. Weapon XP
2. Forged in Battle

Weapon XP
Characters plot their progress towards greatness via experience points and levels; create a like system for weapons.

In the video game Lord of the Rings Online, PCs may encounter their first Legendary Weapon at around level 50. One of the things that sets Legendary weapons apart from others is that they gain XP when used. Once the weapon has gained enough XP to reach the next level, it gets upgraded with new powers and abilities. 

How could this play out in D&D? Take that long sword the player chose for their 1st-level character. Give it one (1) XP for each enemy it kills. After twenty-five kills, or 10 encounters, or 5 game sessions, have the weapon level up, and give it a +1 bonus, or any other beginner-level magic property. 

And here's the reasoning behind that. Remember those boots I talked about earlier? After many years of wearing and caring, they had become the most comfortable Army boots I have ever strapped on my feet. If you've ever worn Army combat boots, you know exactly how important a comfortable pair of them are. The same could be applied for a character who continually uses the same long sword. After many fights with it, it becomes a natural extension of the wielder, and giving it a bonus would represent that fact. Also, it would go a long way towards breaking the players, and your campaign, away from being a mere grind to find the next better weapon.

Forged in Battle
In the video game The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, one of the weapons of legend the player may obtain is Wuuthrad, a large double-bladed axe "originally wielded by Ysgramor, leader of the Five Hundred Companions". It's magical power is that it is 'especially deadly to elves'. When the weapon was forged and named, it didn't have any magical powers within it. Wuuthrad didn't become deadly to elves until during and after Ysgramor wielded it in a war against "Snow Elves of Skyrim and Solstheim in the Merethic Era". 

Let's say that same long sword from the previous example was wielded through one or more game sessions that have its wielder clearing out a dungeon full of goblins. If the character successfully clears out the dungeon with said long sword, go ahead and give that sword a bonus against goblins from now on, to represent the repeated use in combat against them, and the skill gained by the character at knowing how to effectively use the blade to target their weak spots. 

Or, say the player rolls a nat 20 and shears the horns off a minotaur whose favored tactic was to charge characters head-first in an effort to impale them with its horns. On the spot, that long sword transforms in the hands of the character wielding it from a mundane sword to Horn Hewer, and in time, word of it spreads to all the horned beasts across the realm.

Of course, these are just two ways for DMs to keep their players from becoming over-powered, or bored with the grind, in campaigns. I could add a good deal more to those examples, such as the inclusion of crafting / enchanting systems, but will save them for later. 

Now I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on my examples, and also in hearing how you have already handled the balance of magic item power in your own campaigns.