Wandering Monsters: Trite Trickery

Wandering Monsters takes a break from monsters this week to talk about what exploration means and various dungeon “tricks”.

Starting things on a positive note, I actually agree with the definition of what exploration is, as well as the bullet list of activities (which could be broken up into travel, problem-solving, and investigation). The only thing I would add is that more than just a category of things that can occur in the game, I think it is also important for adventure pacing.

>In other words it is not only the glue that holds your encounters together, but it is also the padding that keeps the game session from being an endless
sequence of fights and dialogue.

Kind of like how meat binders keep every bite from being cheap meat.

Where I start to disagree is when it mentions how you will “more often” rely on your wits while interacting with the Dungeon Master.

I have never liked this disparity, where it is for some reason okay to roll your Strength to scale a wall or Dexterity to balance across a narrow beam, but not when you want to use Intelligence to solve a puzzle or Charisma to fast talk your way past a guard. That is kind of the point of playing a game where you allegedly can pretend to be whatever you want, so why potentially close those doors to characters who might not be as intelligent or witty (or conversely, benefit a player who is smarter or witter than her character)?

Like pseudo-Vancian magic I cannot remember any bit of fiction where the main character sits around and fiddles with levels for awhile before continuing on with actual the story. It might amuse some Dungeon Masters to grind the game to halt for an hour or so while the players poke and push statues trying to intuit the correct combination of actions required to get on with the fun parts of the game, but that probably means that they are either bad or inexperienced. In either case advice in the DMG on how to avoid that sort of thing could be helpful.

It would also be nice if there at least guidelines, optional ones even, that inform you how a character’s mental and social strengths can help them overcome those sorts of challenges. If nothing else, I would at least like a system where characters can make ability score checks in order to gain hints. If puzzles are worth XP, then you could reduce or even waive the reward entirely if the group decides to make a check to bypass it. It would still not be equal, but at least it help prevent players from getting stuck at puzzles that their characters should not be.

When it comes to tricks I have never really maintained an “arsenal”, at least not like the fountain described in the article, which just comes across as confusing and random. I get that there is a lack of context, but the first thing that comes to my mind when I read the description is not interest or excitement, but why. Why everything. Why is it there? Why would someone go through the effort of constructing an elaborate fountain, enchant a gargoyle to ask a riddle and spray you with acid if you fail, and also enchant a nymph statue to clue you in on some treasure?

It just seems like the kind of thing that would take a long time to construct, enchant, and program, and for what purpose or payoff? To randomly spray explorers with acid, or reward them for answering a riddle? Seems kind of extreme in either case, and not the kind of thing that I would expect a wizard to do, or even something that someone would pay a wizard to do. All it does for me is pull me out of the narrative, and remind me that this is just a game, with a dungeon specifically designed to be explored and conquered.

If I had to describe my arsenal, it would be more like how you write and use Fronts, Dungeon Moves, and Custom Moves in Dungeon World; a list of contextually appropriate events–which can include bits of dungeon dressing, traps, monsters, and effects specific to the dungeon environment–and locations to draw inspiration from, add to the game session if I have the time (or remind me of stuff to use later), and fall back on if the characters go off the rails or do something else unexpected.

Barring specific circumstances I do not see myself using any of the map-muddling tricks, at least not with the express intent to “foil” the characters’ mapping endeavors. In that regard they seem cheap and silly, and like the fountain drag me right back into reality. I have heard of dungeons where if the characters step in a circle–or even an unmarked area–and it teleports them into some ridiculous death trap, or pit trap filled with oozes that closes after you fall in. I do not understand the draw of randomly killing characters, and like map tricks consider them equally cheap and silly.

I am fine with trick categories. Not sure if they are needed, but can see the use of having things better organized for reference so that if I am looking for the obstacles I know where to look.

What surprises me is that the author is bold enough to even suggest that traps as depicted in older editions might not be necessarily good for the game. I do not remember how traps worked in 2nd Edition, but in 3rd Edition it used to be that if you found one and disarmed it you got XP. If you found it and failed to disarm it by a certain margin, or just blundered into it without noticing then it triggered, and the effects varied depending on if it was a dart trap, pit trap, teleporting trap, etc.

The point is that what they were usually for was just a way to deal a bit of random damage before being forgotten. I called this underwhelming method “nut-punching traps”, and like save-or-die effects they are not good for the game, but a way for the lazy DM to try and peddle tension and danger. I find 4th Edition’s way of utilizing them much more engaging because it is advised that you use them with other encounters, and almost everyone in the party can help deal with them; it does not just fall to the rogue and a single die roll.

In regards to the three pillars the only thing I would change is to add traps and hazards to the combat pillar, too, as in 4th Edition the more memorable traps were those that were so elaborate that the entire party had to deal with them, or just a piece of the bigger picture.

Legends & Lore: Exploration And Interaction Pillars

After a two-week absence Legends & Lore returns with a look at two of Next‘s occasionally-mentioned three-pillar system, which I just now realized that if arranged properly could be referred to as “ICE” (not to be confused with Shadowrun’s IC).

I have not used the exploration rules beyond overland travel, and even then I kept forgetting to assign exploration tasks, so removing the 1-day time increment will not affect me much. The addition of weather rules sounds fun, but not nearly as fun as the potential for classes and monsters to interact with them (especially stuff like the bit about the green dragon).

One of the things that I disliked about 3rd Edition was that it was a simple matter to rack up a massive Diplomacy skill modifier early on: half-elves got a +2, three skills could give you +2 synergy bonuses, and you could also lump Negotiator and Skill Focus together for another +5, which meant that at level 3 you could feasibly have a +19 bonus before Charisma became a factor.

Not only did this make it incredibly easy to change most NPC reactions to at least indifferent–going from Hostile to Indifferent “only” required a DC 25 check, which you could make on a 6 if your Charisma “only” was average–but it basically relegated social interactions to the guy with the highest Diplomacy modifier.

4th Edition tried to make it easier for more characters to contribute to these sorts of interactions with mixed results: all to often players–mine included–ended up “spamming” the skills they were best at until they got the requisite number of successes, or just piled on Aid Another bonuses so that someone else could. Or, you know, if they had nothing better to do.

Given that the interaction rules involve “Charisma checks (or other checks, as appropriate)”, it sounds like they are to a degree starting with something resembling 4th Edition’s skill challenge system. I am of the mind that skill challenges got better over time, so hopefully the designers have learned from this. If nothing else NPC traits, as well as the ability to “invoke” them with varying results (as well as related monster- and character-abilities), sounds both ambitious and interesting.

D&D Next: Exploration Rules

Last week’s playtest session only went for two hours–with a good chunk devoted to polishing up characters–so we did not get a chance to use them much, but I found what we have so far to be an interesting change of pace from 4th Edition’s skill challenges.

Early on I remember whenever I would try to have the characters find some lost ruin in the woods or something along those lines, that everyone would stack on Nature or Perception, or just not bother rolling at all for fearing of blundering into a hazard, though eventually better examples and structures made things a lot smoother.

The exploration rules in Next provide a system of abstracted, turn-based rules that goes above and beyond rolling for the daily random encounter, for exploring a section of dungeon or wilderness region, or just traveling from place to place.

Turn lengths are broken up into 5-minute, 1 hour, and 1 day increments based on what you are exploring, and how far apart points of interest are: 5-minute turns are great for dungeons where rooms are close together, 1-hour turns are better if rooms or locations are far apart, and 1-day turns are pretty much for exploring wilderness regions.

Once you get your turn duration set, you then ask the characters how fast they are exploring. This helps you determine how far they can move during a turn, as well as their readiness DC, which is used to determine things like surprise and if they get lost: the faster you are moving, the more likely you are going to blunder into monsters, lose your way, overlook details, and so on.

During exploration characters can each undertake 1-3 exploration tasks, such as keeping watch, navigating, mapmaking, and more. The more tasks you try to perform at the same time, the harder it gets, and sometimes speed prevents you from attempting them, at all. For example, you cannot map if you are going at a fast or rushed pace.

To me this is one of the highlights of the latest packet, though I am confused why none of the class features seemed to sync up with this “pillar” (I think exploration was supposed to be one of the three pillars, anyway). Like, wizards being able to sense magic, paladins evil (or good, depending on what you are looking for), and rogues traps.

I could see these being adapted for an urban settings, especially in Eberron. Oh, and since the game already offers quest XP, why not give the players something for discovering new sites? It would be a nice incentive for hexcrawls.