I keep hitting moments where I feel ready to start running a game, then feel overwhelmed considering all the bits that still need to get addressed before starting. I look at the encounters and think, 20-30 minutes prep and I'm ready to go. Then I remember all the details about exhaustion, wilderness travel, etc. That is more than a half an hour...
There is a difference between game prep and session prep. That is the crux of the lesson I'm learning. Session prep is probably not an issue for me. It flows pretty naturally out of the many years we've spent playing across 5+ versions of the game. There are aspects that need addressing, particularly how far you expect to get in the session, and any linking narrative to make it work. It is also helpful to look over the encounters you have planned in order to refresh your sense of the layout and setup, and to consider the motivations of the combatants you have in mind, both your own, and those of the party.
As for the game prep, part of the difficulty stems from my attempt to use the published adventure lines - last year, Storm King's Thunder, and currently, The Tomb of Annihilation - rather than build my own. When I've built my own, I've been able to choose an idea, build a hook to draw the party into the adventure, then develop the overarching story as the whole develops. With the published adventures, its necessary to familiarize yourself with the story arc as it exists, then identify the hooks (or create them) that will draw the party in.
This adventure, in particular, seems to incorporate a lot of tricky elements as part of the story process - such as the death curse, the environmental issues (exhaustion), and the randomness of travel conditions (everything from guides to survival checks to avoid getting lost). These require even more prep beyond familiarity with the storyline.
Fortunately, I think these can be managed pretty well with a basic outline of what checks need to be made, how often, and in what order and to what effect. Once the game is in progress, much of it will slip to the background (appropriately) as a series of checks, almost like the ones that have become unwritten checklists over the years. Namely, what is your marching order? Are you setting a watch during the night? What is the guard rotation going to be? And other similar considerations. What is concerning with this path is that there are several new elements to include, and effects that arise from how those elements develop.
Most of my concerns are from nerves in the end. The anxiety of beginning a new campaign. The concern over managing several new elements. At other times, I might have forgone some of them and just used the encounters, but with this adventure, those elements have been woven centrally into the narrative, so that you need to include them for it to flow correctly. Knowing this just adds to the anxiety. My initial fear is that mastering them will require hours of game prep prior to beginning session prep, but I'm confident that is only a response to the fear. In practice, the time will be much more reasonable. The key is to find the most efficient way to get a handle on how to manage them in-game.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
The Jungle Awaits
I noticed a thread on ENWorld talking about starting campaigns in The Tomb of Annihilation. I read through some of it, and found most of it dealt with questions about the weather, and its effect on travel, exhaustion levels, and the effect of wearing armor in a jungle climate.
I started wondering about Chult and the jungle, how to prepare for an adventure, and how best to juggle the non-combat effects of travel, exhaustion, and direction in the jungle. I've thought about building some charts and such to help tracke them all, or at least to remind myself of them as I play. I've also seen the DM screen for the adventure setting, and I think it might be a good investment for all of those reasons.
I need to pick up a copy before I get too far into this topic. That way, I can filter out what is there, and concentrate on what is missing to prepare. For now, there are other thoughts. Namely, how to build characters and parties. This looks like a setting that will reward some non-traditional character types. In particular, rangers, rogues, barbarians, druids, monks, and arcane spell casters that are more mobile and ranged, relying less on AC and melee defenses than range and movement. Also, with spell casters of any kind, there is a benefit to choosing non-combative spells, such as Purify Food and Water, and spells that boost saving throws and skill checks.
There have always been good reasons to use a lot of these options, but this adventure path seems to really reward characters that are mobile and versatile. Even the encounters in the setting rely on puzzles and riddles as much as traditional combat aspects, further enhancing the value of any characters that have strong skill check modifiers.
I started wondering about Chult and the jungle, how to prepare for an adventure, and how best to juggle the non-combat effects of travel, exhaustion, and direction in the jungle. I've thought about building some charts and such to help tracke them all, or at least to remind myself of them as I play. I've also seen the DM screen for the adventure setting, and I think it might be a good investment for all of those reasons.
I need to pick up a copy before I get too far into this topic. That way, I can filter out what is there, and concentrate on what is missing to prepare. For now, there are other thoughts. Namely, how to build characters and parties. This looks like a setting that will reward some non-traditional character types. In particular, rangers, rogues, barbarians, druids, monks, and arcane spell casters that are more mobile and ranged, relying less on AC and melee defenses than range and movement. Also, with spell casters of any kind, there is a benefit to choosing non-combative spells, such as Purify Food and Water, and spells that boost saving throws and skill checks.
There have always been good reasons to use a lot of these options, but this adventure path seems to really reward characters that are mobile and versatile. Even the encounters in the setting rely on puzzles and riddles as much as traditional combat aspects, further enhancing the value of any characters that have strong skill check modifiers.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Thinking about Giant Fights
This is jumping over to our game set in the Storm King's Thunder. For our last session, we were defending Triboar from a return attack of Fire Giants, looking for a lost fragment. We reached a good stopping point mid-fight, and left the game until our next session, but elements of the whole fight have weighed on me.
On one level, it is everything I've hoped to find in D&D for years... a massive fight in a broad open space... but it drags. Part of the problem is that the encounter is too open. You can spread out enough to protect yourself from a concerted area effect, but at the same time you lose the ability to use any of your own. The same distances that protect you prevent you from effectively targeting your opponent. This leaves a long, dragged out fight as opponents dance around each other and try to nibble away at each other.
In person, these large fights seem to work out better. We've been on Roll20, and it seems difficult to manage some of these larger encounters through that medium. I'm not sure if its an inherent limitation of the technology, or if we're applying in-person logic to the online game, and haven't worked out how to run it more efficiently there.
I feel like this is the case. Not that the medium is flawed, but that I haven't figured out how to make it work and keep the action vibrant. If we scaled the fight down to moments and drama, it would flow more easily, but I like to play it out fully. Why generate the numbers, stats and HP, unless you plan to use them. But that seems to be awkward online.
We still have half a fight to get through, and I need to find a way to make it flow more naturally. I'm not sure how. That is my task for thought - how to do it. I'll give it some thought...
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Random Travel
I've been checking some of the wilderness travel details for Tomb of Annihilation. Basically, a party can move one hex (10 miles) per day in the jungle. The DM is expected to make three rolls on the random encounter chart for each hex traveled - for morning, midday, and night.
This feels borderline unplayable. I've always had trouble incorporating random monsters encounters into my games. I remember 1st edition, with its wandering monster checks. We used to roll those when we started... but that lasted a few months (maybe a few weeks). When you sit down to play, you want to play - not watch the DM roll for a random encounter, cross reference it for information, then improvise a scenario. It stops the action, when good table play seems to be best served by extending or expanding the action.
The solution to this is to make the rolls before play begins... but then, you don't have random encounters, you have structure and pre-determined encounters. In other words, you do a lot of work to prep and detail "random" encounters that you can intersperse with the action. This is counter to the point of a module or adventure book.
Add in the possibilities of getting lost, and your party is in for long sessions of random encounter checks. I guess the key is keeping it fast and loose. Roll the dice all at once, then spin something out by the seat of your pants, thinking ahead to any later encounters while playing out the first. I suppose that as long as the random encounters are given out as exposition and narrative, they can be quickly embedded.
I think it will be necessary to play a few days (in-game) in order to work out the kinks. It just feels like an awkward system at face value.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Starting Woes
This is the bane of any writer - word one. I've been considering what kind of campaign I want to build, and am beginning to get a feel for what I'd like to start developing. Unfortunately, I'm still left with no beginning. Ideally, we can sit down over the next day or two and begin play on a new campaign. But for the moment, I've got nothing.
Thee are options. As I mentioned yesterday, there are a some options that work well as "asides" to the main quest, wanderings might be a better word. I could use one of those, and that would be fine. The concern is that we spend all our time wandering and none developing a unified central theme. Wanderings are fine, but they can't substitute for a plot. That was Storm King's Thunder.
I'm fresh off King Solomon's Mines, so the idea of a questing adventure to recover someone or something is at the forefront of my mind. It's been one of the options we've discussed all summer, the Dr. Livingston hook, as it were. After that, it devolved into numerous options of who to look for, the circumstances of their disappearance, the makeup of the searchers... That's part of the problem.
At least it's an option that can be used multiple times. It may be one that we use at the heart of multiple adventure paths, which is fine, although I think it will work better if there is some variation in the target of the search. Unless, all of the adventures are looked at as filaments of one larger skein! Maybe the whole point of our adventures should be locating Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter. Different groups would have different reasons for and approaches to the search, not to mention vastly different possibilities about where to find them, what the danger is, or the importance. That might be a good unifying theme.
I'd rather define our own theme, but this might work in the meantime... Picking a theme might be easy enough, but giving it the proper meaning and relevance is tougher. This could work as a preparatory device. I suppose all of this is comical, when the pretense of the adventure is to discover the cause of the death curse and end it... but as a theme, it doesn't resonate with me as a hook that will mean anything to first level adventurers. We want to start from scratch.
So, we use Artus Cimber... it just opens more questions. Why do we all want to find him? Why do we care about the Ring of Winter?
Let's vary it... let's chase after an archaeologist. One group wants to find him and help explore the ruins he has discovered. Another group will want to find him and silence him, multiple groups more likely - some because of the item, some the location, some to protect their own interests. This will work. Let Artus Cimber wander through the story as scripted, we'll head out to find our own lost soul, or treasure of our own.
Thee are options. As I mentioned yesterday, there are a some options that work well as "asides" to the main quest, wanderings might be a better word. I could use one of those, and that would be fine. The concern is that we spend all our time wandering and none developing a unified central theme. Wanderings are fine, but they can't substitute for a plot. That was Storm King's Thunder.
I'm fresh off King Solomon's Mines, so the idea of a questing adventure to recover someone or something is at the forefront of my mind. It's been one of the options we've discussed all summer, the Dr. Livingston hook, as it were. After that, it devolved into numerous options of who to look for, the circumstances of their disappearance, the makeup of the searchers... That's part of the problem.
At least it's an option that can be used multiple times. It may be one that we use at the heart of multiple adventure paths, which is fine, although I think it will work better if there is some variation in the target of the search. Unless, all of the adventures are looked at as filaments of one larger skein! Maybe the whole point of our adventures should be locating Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter. Different groups would have different reasons for and approaches to the search, not to mention vastly different possibilities about where to find them, what the danger is, or the importance. That might be a good unifying theme.
I'd rather define our own theme, but this might work in the meantime... Picking a theme might be easy enough, but giving it the proper meaning and relevance is tougher. This could work as a preparatory device. I suppose all of this is comical, when the pretense of the adventure is to discover the cause of the death curse and end it... but as a theme, it doesn't resonate with me as a hook that will mean anything to first level adventurers. We want to start from scratch.
So, we use Artus Cimber... it just opens more questions. Why do we all want to find him? Why do we care about the Ring of Winter?
Let's vary it... let's chase after an archaeologist. One group wants to find him and help explore the ruins he has discovered. Another group will want to find him and silence him, multiple groups more likely - some because of the item, some the location, some to protect their own interests. This will work. Let Artus Cimber wander through the story as scripted, we'll head out to find our own lost soul, or treasure of our own.
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Further Thoughts...
I've been reading over the available guides, trying to get a feel for them, and what kind of game would fit with each. Now, I'm back to wondering what game I want to run... Such a cyclical argument!
Basically, we've built up three or four groups for potential use. Each brings its own sentimentality and style. We have a party of Tabaxi that will be a lot of fun to play, I think. They will thrive in a loose adventure, with lots of comic elements and dramatic opportunities. Unfortunately, I think more than one of us would like to run that adventure... and play it too! That doesn't sound like a combination that will work. Tricky...
There are two or three guides that seem concerned with the undead in the jungle. That would mesh nicely with a paladin/cleric heavy party. They could gather up their moral outrage, and rush in to take down evil. That will make a fun set of encounters, and has potential, but it feels like more of a theme-based campaign than the main event. It would be fun to run as one-offs, or mini adventures, building toward something larger.
It has always felt right to try two or three storylines, and allow them to intersect and reform as the adventure develops. That way we can experiment with several character options and party builds, and tweak it as the end game begins to develop.
We also have a nice troupe of bards making their rounds. They make a strong party, but I worry that they are vulnerable at times. The question becomes - what do we want to use as our main adventuring party, and what kind of quest do we want them undertaking?
There should be an element of grandeur, and purpose. But also adventure in a high sense, and plenty of derring-do. I think a good general direction is good. Some of the more targeted locations are nice, but don't spin off into bigger things as easily. Keeping the main theme more general - exploration and maybe recovery?? - will build a better main adventure thrust.
Basically, we've built up three or four groups for potential use. Each brings its own sentimentality and style. We have a party of Tabaxi that will be a lot of fun to play, I think. They will thrive in a loose adventure, with lots of comic elements and dramatic opportunities. Unfortunately, I think more than one of us would like to run that adventure... and play it too! That doesn't sound like a combination that will work. Tricky...
There are two or three guides that seem concerned with the undead in the jungle. That would mesh nicely with a paladin/cleric heavy party. They could gather up their moral outrage, and rush in to take down evil. That will make a fun set of encounters, and has potential, but it feels like more of a theme-based campaign than the main event. It would be fun to run as one-offs, or mini adventures, building toward something larger.
It has always felt right to try two or three storylines, and allow them to intersect and reform as the adventure develops. That way we can experiment with several character options and party builds, and tweak it as the end game begins to develop.
We also have a nice troupe of bards making their rounds. They make a strong party, but I worry that they are vulnerable at times. The question becomes - what do we want to use as our main adventuring party, and what kind of quest do we want them undertaking?
There should be an element of grandeur, and purpose. But also adventure in a high sense, and plenty of derring-do. I think a good general direction is good. Some of the more targeted locations are nice, but don't spin off into bigger things as easily. Keeping the main theme more general - exploration and maybe recovery?? - will build a better main adventure thrust.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Starting Anew...
We're still underway in Storm King's Thunder, but even that adventure is finally edging toward the end game section. With the new module in hand, it's time to start developing a new storyline. The options are numerous, and that poses a problem.
I think, in the end, we will have multiple games running, which will ease the anxiety, but deciding where to start is intimidating. Even now, I'm waffling between an option centered on a dragon, and one with Tabaxi. I think the latter will make for a fun romp through the jungle, and there are obvious connections with the mini adventure we've run already with these characters. It is definitely an adventure course we'll run. I'm just not sure whether I should run it, or leave it for Stephen to run.
We've been interested in a dragon quest, and there is an option that will lead that direction. That could be fun. My concern is that the dragon element is removed from the start of the quest, and would require a lot of work to build up an adventure to that point. That is too much like what Storm King' Thunder provided - which was a major flaw in that adventure. You buy these things looking for something to run, and not to create the encounters yourself. If that is what you need to do, there's no reason to use the module.
I think Tomb of Annihilation will offer better options for developing the adventure, but it feels important not to overlap routes either. The two options I've considered seem to lead in the same direction, which means either duplicating encounter areas, pushing elements around on the map, or finding another way to push the two paths apart.
At least the actual map of the jungle interior is unknown. This allows for leeway in playing it out. One possibility is that the guides themselves, separate from their destinations, only know limited paths through the jungle. Maybe they prefer travel by water, or have an aversion to water. Maybe they have been taught to avoid certain areas... there are a number of options.
I think I need to actually study the guides themselves first, and use their attributes to decide how to advance this.
I think, in the end, we will have multiple games running, which will ease the anxiety, but deciding where to start is intimidating. Even now, I'm waffling between an option centered on a dragon, and one with Tabaxi. I think the latter will make for a fun romp through the jungle, and there are obvious connections with the mini adventure we've run already with these characters. It is definitely an adventure course we'll run. I'm just not sure whether I should run it, or leave it for Stephen to run.
We've been interested in a dragon quest, and there is an option that will lead that direction. That could be fun. My concern is that the dragon element is removed from the start of the quest, and would require a lot of work to build up an adventure to that point. That is too much like what Storm King' Thunder provided - which was a major flaw in that adventure. You buy these things looking for something to run, and not to create the encounters yourself. If that is what you need to do, there's no reason to use the module.
I think Tomb of Annihilation will offer better options for developing the adventure, but it feels important not to overlap routes either. The two options I've considered seem to lead in the same direction, which means either duplicating encounter areas, pushing elements around on the map, or finding another way to push the two paths apart.
At least the actual map of the jungle interior is unknown. This allows for leeway in playing it out. One possibility is that the guides themselves, separate from their destinations, only know limited paths through the jungle. Maybe they prefer travel by water, or have an aversion to water. Maybe they have been taught to avoid certain areas... there are a number of options.
I think I need to actually study the guides themselves first, and use their attributes to decide how to advance this.
Monday, October 2, 2017
New Thoughts
We've been prepping for Chult since it was announced early this summer. I think we anticipated it as a setting before that, and had already been working toward it as a setting. At least, we were thinking pirates, jungles and exploring lost ruins. It fit with where we wanted to go.
Now that Tomb of Annihilation is out, even more of what we had been looking for is present in the adventure. Particularly the notion of traps and more skill based interactions. The adventure seems to be full of them. I think the idea of going on a madcap adventure through the jungle, whip in hand, leaping pits, swinging from vine to vine, and avoiding snakes and rolling stones, has been in the heads of many D&D players for nearly 40 years! If they hadn't heard of Tarzan or Rider Haggard by the 80s, they latched onto Indiana Jones and spent years trying to replicate that emotional feeling in game form.
I'm impressed with the adventure book. There are interesting options in any direction you choose to go. And frankly, that is a great part of this book's appeal... you start in Port Nyanzaru, and enter the jungle anywhere you want. After that, all roads lead to the heart of the book, but in a near infinite variety of routes. If you want to fight undead, you can. If you want a dragon hunt, you can chase one. You can deal with pirates, giants, lost world prehistoric monsters, etc.
The encounters seem to all carry elements of puzzles, that can add to the experience. I'm still getting into the heart of it, but it looks even these elements can be played through or around. That is quite an accomplishment. For the last three months, particularly after last year's Storm King's Thunder, there's been a concern about how the book would fail to deliver on its possibilities. That it actually delivers above and beyond is rewarding and refreshing.
Now that Tomb of Annihilation is out, even more of what we had been looking for is present in the adventure. Particularly the notion of traps and more skill based interactions. The adventure seems to be full of them. I think the idea of going on a madcap adventure through the jungle, whip in hand, leaping pits, swinging from vine to vine, and avoiding snakes and rolling stones, has been in the heads of many D&D players for nearly 40 years! If they hadn't heard of Tarzan or Rider Haggard by the 80s, they latched onto Indiana Jones and spent years trying to replicate that emotional feeling in game form.
I'm impressed with the adventure book. There are interesting options in any direction you choose to go. And frankly, that is a great part of this book's appeal... you start in Port Nyanzaru, and enter the jungle anywhere you want. After that, all roads lead to the heart of the book, but in a near infinite variety of routes. If you want to fight undead, you can. If you want a dragon hunt, you can chase one. You can deal with pirates, giants, lost world prehistoric monsters, etc.
The encounters seem to all carry elements of puzzles, that can add to the experience. I'm still getting into the heart of it, but it looks even these elements can be played through or around. That is quite an accomplishment. For the last three months, particularly after last year's Storm King's Thunder, there's been a concern about how the book would fail to deliver on its possibilities. That it actually delivers above and beyond is rewarding and refreshing.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Post Script
This adventure is far from finished, but I've at least gotten it through from inception to the final location. At this point, the treasure needs to be determined for the final encounters, and then the laborious process of going back over everything from the beginning to fine tune it, polish the rough edges, fill in the gaps between settings and encounters, and so many other details that need adding and finalizing.
But I'm happy to call this project complete and begin a new one. Partly, this is because I'm almost completely burned out on this one, and partly because new settings and ideas have come to mind, and I'd rather work on them. Now that Tomb of Annihilation is out, the lure of lost ruins and jungle exploration is too overwhelming to stay away from.
This was a unique situation. I wanted to work on a long form adventure, and I wanted to make a dragon quest. This fulfilled that. I also wanted to take a story I'd begun during NaNoWriMo and develop the adventure it suggested. It seemed like the best option to blog the progress, both to keep myself plodding away at it every day, and to document the process. I'm pleased with the effort, but I don't think I could replicate it again right away.
I like the idea of producing something every day, but I'd rather jump around for a while. Explore settings, traps, monsters and lairs. Whatever comes to mind, basically. I feel like exploring some jungle themes and ruined temples, and this is a good place to work on elements of those. Also, we're finally getting the story moving in Storm King's Thunder, so there is opportunity to try out scenarios tied with that, either for inspiration or for actual play.
But I'm happy to call this project complete and begin a new one. Partly, this is because I'm almost completely burned out on this one, and partly because new settings and ideas have come to mind, and I'd rather work on them. Now that Tomb of Annihilation is out, the lure of lost ruins and jungle exploration is too overwhelming to stay away from.
This was a unique situation. I wanted to work on a long form adventure, and I wanted to make a dragon quest. This fulfilled that. I also wanted to take a story I'd begun during NaNoWriMo and develop the adventure it suggested. It seemed like the best option to blog the progress, both to keep myself plodding away at it every day, and to document the process. I'm pleased with the effort, but I don't think I could replicate it again right away.
I like the idea of producing something every day, but I'd rather jump around for a while. Explore settings, traps, monsters and lairs. Whatever comes to mind, basically. I feel like exploring some jungle themes and ruined temples, and this is a good place to work on elements of those. Also, we're finally getting the story moving in Storm King's Thunder, so there is opportunity to try out scenarios tied with that, either for inspiration or for actual play.
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