Resource management is as much a part of RPGs as combat and spell selection. There is nothing more painful to a player than having to determine what resources to give up when going into a dungeon or what treasure when coming out of a dungeon. Sure, any competent adventurer is going to give up the copper first and only part with the platinum if it is a matter of life and death (and sometimes not even then). But what about having to make the choice of losing a porter (and his carrying capacity) before you go into a dungeon or losing a horse with its food-stuffs and over-land carrying capacity?
And that's why I love ankhegs. They aren't very dangerous to a prepared party or even an unprepared party past about 3rd level. What they are dangerous to is horses, mules, porters, guard dogs and animal companions/familiars. Ankhegs have animal intelligence, meaning they are just as smart as dogs, cats and horses. This means that they can learn to work together, use simple tactics, be trained and create basic ambushes.
Working together, an ankheg pack/pride/flock (I still haven't decided what to call them) could easily create a network of tunnels under commonly traveled areas. This lets them track and evaluate caravans passing through their area - just as African lions, wild dogs and feral boars have been know to do. Remember, they aren't that smart, so don't always have them attack the light armor PCs, but they could certainly learn to not attack the shiny (armor wearing) humanoids in favor of an easy to grab donkey or unarmored porter. They are also only large, so grabbing that halfling mage or gnome rogue might be particularly tempting.
*Blogger deleted about half of my original post, so here's the rest added after the fact.*
Lots of people seem to like using wolves or boars for goblinoid mounts, I like using ankhegs and giant scorpions. The expression on the faces of the players when they realize that the mount is more dangerous than the rider is priceless. And when under control, coordinating a directed acid attack against the heavy armored PC means that either multiple saving throws have to be made, or a fair bit of damage will be done. Not a big deal you say? Well, it's not just the HP of PC that's at stake when a saving throw fails. All that nice, tasty armor, shield, backpack, pouch, weapon, etc. gets to make a save as well. So suddenly, that massive AC that's hard to hit becomes a little less difficult when it's laying in pieces around the PC.
In the newer editions, monster advancement is pretty straight forward. But what's more fun is adding a template and ankhegs are just begging to have a dragon or fiend template applied. Just think about how nice a red dragon template and its fire breath adds to the effectiveness of something that already has a descent acid attack. This also gives them a little more AC and HP to take their time in picking a juicy target.
It is also not out of the realm of possibilities to have them function as a team like a lion pride. And, with their ability to create tunnels, they could certainly trap or funnel prey into designated areas by digging trenches or dead falls along the paths they want their targets to take.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Monster Battle Tactics - Animated Object
One of the things that was always hardest for me to grasp as a DM/GM was exactly how monsters approach combat. It never seemed like a group of orcs should stand there fighting a straight-up opponent in any sort of organized way, whereas a hobgoblin squad would be very organized and use standard battle tactics. Sure, that's what the book says to do, but how many players and storytellers alike actually have military training to the point of understanding or planning a combat situation? While I have never served in the armed forces, I have spent time in ROTC, CAP and participated in a number of "coordinated exercises" lead by members of the military. As well as having read many books on the tactics used by Rommel, MacArthur, Patton, Longstreet, Grant, Lee, Sun Tzu, etc.
So I figured I'd do a little blurb of how various, imho under-used monsters could approach an encounter. Going in roughly alphabetical order, the first is Animated Objects.
These little annoyances come in all shapes and sizes, materials and mutations. It's easy enough to figure out how a knife, sword, candlestick or hammer would work but what about an ottoman or foot stool, birdcage or chained tapestry. The first thing to figure out is what exactly is animated and why it is where it is.
I always liked putting these in a study or library, waiting till the PCs decided to sleep or are otherwise distracted and then activating the objects at random times. There's nothing saying that the object has to respond immediately to an intruder. So, give the players a nice, soft lounge chair to rest for the "night", then after they have settled in and only 1 or 2 are on watch (or none if they are that *daring*) have said chair begin suffocating the PC trying to rest. What about that empty birdcage in the corner, you know, the one hanging from 10 or 15 feet of chain. Well that's just a trip, entangle or disarm waiting to happen. Or better yet, combine them to use the chain to constrict around the PC resting on the couch that is trying to suffocate him.
I also like to add "flavor" to some objects - spikes to a chain, sharp edges to a table/desk, burning pitch to a brazier. Most of the time these things just do a bit more damage, but consider the vision impairing effects caused by a flying tapestry or how much steam a cauldron could make before it attacks. Remember these objects aren't intelligent, but whoever created them probably was and putting the objects into position to be as effective as possible is something they probably considered.
One of the other things I like to add to animated objects is rust, rot or disease. Think about it, that object may have been sitting there for hundreds of years and dungeons are notoriously damp. When was the last time an adventurer took any precautions after getting out of a dungeon and had a cure or remove disease spell cast on them?
The other place I really like to use animated objects is in conjunction with traps. Nice, you found the arrow trap and used that candlestick to mark the location of the trigger in case you need to come back this way in a hurry. Sucks that it moved a few feet from where you originally sat it down. Oh, your fighter didn't find the pit trap and fell 30' and all those spikes/swords/spears at the bottom of the pit were animated. I have used this combo once and the players really didn't like it, but while they were working to pull the unfortunate fallen soul up with a rope, a pair of animated sheers came out from a side room (weaving room) - he fell again...
So I figured I'd do a little blurb of how various, imho under-used monsters could approach an encounter. Going in roughly alphabetical order, the first is Animated Objects.
These little annoyances come in all shapes and sizes, materials and mutations. It's easy enough to figure out how a knife, sword, candlestick or hammer would work but what about an ottoman or foot stool, birdcage or chained tapestry. The first thing to figure out is what exactly is animated and why it is where it is.
I always liked putting these in a study or library, waiting till the PCs decided to sleep or are otherwise distracted and then activating the objects at random times. There's nothing saying that the object has to respond immediately to an intruder. So, give the players a nice, soft lounge chair to rest for the "night", then after they have settled in and only 1 or 2 are on watch (or none if they are that *daring*) have said chair begin suffocating the PC trying to rest. What about that empty birdcage in the corner, you know, the one hanging from 10 or 15 feet of chain. Well that's just a trip, entangle or disarm waiting to happen. Or better yet, combine them to use the chain to constrict around the PC resting on the couch that is trying to suffocate him.
I also like to add "flavor" to some objects - spikes to a chain, sharp edges to a table/desk, burning pitch to a brazier. Most of the time these things just do a bit more damage, but consider the vision impairing effects caused by a flying tapestry or how much steam a cauldron could make before it attacks. Remember these objects aren't intelligent, but whoever created them probably was and putting the objects into position to be as effective as possible is something they probably considered.
One of the other things I like to add to animated objects is rust, rot or disease. Think about it, that object may have been sitting there for hundreds of years and dungeons are notoriously damp. When was the last time an adventurer took any precautions after getting out of a dungeon and had a cure or remove disease spell cast on them?
The other place I really like to use animated objects is in conjunction with traps. Nice, you found the arrow trap and used that candlestick to mark the location of the trigger in case you need to come back this way in a hurry. Sucks that it moved a few feet from where you originally sat it down. Oh, your fighter didn't find the pit trap and fell 30' and all those spikes/swords/spears at the bottom of the pit were animated. I have used this combo once and the players really didn't like it, but while they were working to pull the unfortunate fallen soul up with a rope, a pair of animated sheers came out from a side room (weaving room) - he fell again...
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
GenCon 2011
The 4-day badge has been purchased. The plans are coming together about where we're staying and how we are getting there. We'll be crashing at a friend-of-a-friend's house in St. Louis on the way up and possibly back, sadly the Cardinals are not in town unless we want to stay a couple extra days, which I doubt will happen.
I've never attended GenCon but I am getting quite excited at the prospect of actually getting to go. I have attended the now defunct UnCommonCon in Dallas, back in 2000, whatever the Con was called in Northwest Arkansas many years ago and the sad Little Rock GameCon a few years ago. However, there appears to be a new player on the block: NWA GameCon. They certainly have a decent web-page, a little more research is needed I think.
On a related note, I saw this little article about DC rebooting its entire line. I've never been a big DC fan and I don't know where most of their story lines are, but with the changing tastes of American consumers, this may well be a make-or-break venture.
I've never attended GenCon but I am getting quite excited at the prospect of actually getting to go. I have attended the now defunct UnCommonCon in Dallas, back in 2000, whatever the Con was called in Northwest Arkansas many years ago and the sad Little Rock GameCon a few years ago. However, there appears to be a new player on the block: NWA GameCon. They certainly have a decent web-page, a little more research is needed I think.
On a related note, I saw this little article about DC rebooting its entire line. I've never been a big DC fan and I don't know where most of their story lines are, but with the changing tastes of American consumers, this may well be a make-or-break venture.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
An Old School Summer
So we haven't officially decided to run some old school modules, but it looks very much like that is what we will be doing for the summer.
However, I'm not sure which way to proceed. We can either jump right into the madness with GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders (level 8+) or start low with T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil (level 1+). I know at least one of the players has never played any 0th, 1st or 2nd ed. games, so low levels may be more appropriate, but then the older stuff doesn't have near the level advancement complexity of the later editions. There was a suggestion to modify whatever we decided to run to Pathfinder but I'm not sure that an update would maintain the traditional feel of these modules AND it would totally ruin the experience of seeing how things were done back in the day.
I have never run either of these modules, but I have run enough modules to be comfortable with how modules as a whole work. Since both of these are ranked very high (#1 and #4) in the greatest modules of all time list, I don't expect there to be many problems, but nothing is perfect. So those of you who have run these, any suggestions on what to look out for?
However, I'm not sure which way to proceed. We can either jump right into the madness with GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders (level 8+) or start low with T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil (level 1+). I know at least one of the players has never played any 0th, 1st or 2nd ed. games, so low levels may be more appropriate, but then the older stuff doesn't have near the level advancement complexity of the later editions. There was a suggestion to modify whatever we decided to run to Pathfinder but I'm not sure that an update would maintain the traditional feel of these modules AND it would totally ruin the experience of seeing how things were done back in the day.
I have never run either of these modules, but I have run enough modules to be comfortable with how modules as a whole work. Since both of these are ranked very high (#1 and #4) in the greatest modules of all time list, I don't expect there to be many problems, but nothing is perfect. So those of you who have run these, any suggestions on what to look out for?
Monday, May 23, 2011
Ch-ch-changes
/sigh...
Sometimes I wonder why DM/GM/ST's put so much time and effort into crafting intricate stories with depth and rewards. This will be *at least* the sixth time I have spent many hours developing a world to run a game in that lasts all of 3-4-5 game sessions before the real world smacks it into a thousand useless pieces.
So one player moved out of state, one player decided they were uncomfortable without the player who moved out of state and one player has decided that they just don't have enough time to commit. All reasons I can respect and understand. I'm still totally bummed. So what are my two remaining players and I to do? Well, this week we ran by our local game shop and picked up a board game to try out. That game was Castle Ravenloft Board Game.
It's 4th edition D&D the way it should have been - a board game. Yes, it is 4th edition D&D the board game - it was actually fun, unlike the RPG version, which is...not. The set-up was interesting, the randomness of the tiles/dungeon make each game unique (sorta). The rulebook is lacking in full explanation of all the pieces in the box and some questions that arose during game play - does it take an action to open a coffin? We decided that yes it does, but grabbing the "win" token may or may not. However, it is very well balanced - assuming you don't pull Strahd on the first coffin you open - yes, we pulled Strahd on the first coffin we opened, but it was in the 2nd game we played - the first saw no coffins opened due to monster placement and timing. It took us about an hour to play through a game, which is good, but I can see it taking much longer with more players.
I'm not sure it is worth $65-$75 to just play occasionally, but it is certainly worth a look if you like board games. Because it is cooperative, most people over the age of 8-9 can probably grasp the rules well enough to participate and that makes it worth a lot more than most other board games.
Sometimes I wonder why DM/GM/ST's put so much time and effort into crafting intricate stories with depth and rewards. This will be *at least* the sixth time I have spent many hours developing a world to run a game in that lasts all of 3-4-5 game sessions before the real world smacks it into a thousand useless pieces.
So one player moved out of state, one player decided they were uncomfortable without the player who moved out of state and one player has decided that they just don't have enough time to commit. All reasons I can respect and understand. I'm still totally bummed. So what are my two remaining players and I to do? Well, this week we ran by our local game shop and picked up a board game to try out. That game was Castle Ravenloft Board Game.
It's 4th edition D&D the way it should have been - a board game. Yes, it is 4th edition D&D the board game - it was actually fun, unlike the RPG version, which is...not. The set-up was interesting, the randomness of the tiles/dungeon make each game unique (sorta). The rulebook is lacking in full explanation of all the pieces in the box and some questions that arose during game play - does it take an action to open a coffin? We decided that yes it does, but grabbing the "win" token may or may not. However, it is very well balanced - assuming you don't pull Strahd on the first coffin you open - yes, we pulled Strahd on the first coffin we opened, but it was in the 2nd game we played - the first saw no coffins opened due to monster placement and timing. It took us about an hour to play through a game, which is good, but I can see it taking much longer with more players.
I'm not sure it is worth $65-$75 to just play occasionally, but it is certainly worth a look if you like board games. Because it is cooperative, most people over the age of 8-9 can probably grasp the rules well enough to participate and that makes it worth a lot more than most other board games.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Changes
Well, it looks like we are moving in a new direction. One player has moved to Orlando for the next 15 or so months and one player has decided they don't want to play any longer. So we are down to three and that makes for some very drastic changes to the story arcs/metaplot of a White Wolf style storytelling game. The remaining players and I are still getting together this evening to discuss what to do and how to proceed.
I'm going to do a one-shot zombie game with the players effectively playing themselves coming back from a camping trip and the zombie plague/virus/attack has occurred during their trip. I'm either going to use the generic WoD rule set or FUDGE - depends on if I have time to throw together/find a decent character sheet.
I'm going to do a one-shot zombie game with the players effectively playing themselves coming back from a camping trip and the zombie plague/virus/attack has occurred during their trip. I'm either going to use the generic WoD rule set or FUDGE - depends on if I have time to throw together/find a decent character sheet.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
On Spirits
Spirits in Werewolf serve both as a great resource and a great problem. They are the primary inhabitants of the Shadow/Umbra/Ether, the reality that exists on the other side of the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is the barrier erected to prevent “normal” from directly interacting with “abnormal”. Many werewolves and other supernaturals have the ability to pass through the gauntlet into the lands of spirits. Most spirits do not welcome the intruders and many will actively oppose the unwelcome guests.
However, spirits provide much benefit to werewolves. They can be consumed to help in healing and regaining power, they can provide other-wise unknowable information, they can be powerful allies and they can mean the difference in winning/losing/surviving a fight.
Spirits come in all sizes, shapes, mentalities, personas and types. Everything that has ever been created, everything that has ever been felt, everything that has ever occurred has a spirit associated with it, but not all spirits are awake or active. A grain of gunpowder’s spirit is so miniscule as to be effectively irrelevant, but a bullet or pistol could have a very powerful spirit. For example, Captain Jack Sparrow’s pistol with one shot in it probably has a very powerful “revenge” spirit awake within it – thus the perfect shot at the end of the movie to defeat Captain Barbosa.
As I stated, spirits have their own agenda’s, often opposed or irrelevant to the werewolf’s. This means that when you try to contact one, you must approach with caution and understand the actions of the spirit may make no logical sense.
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