Accidental Antagonist

The first recurring villain I created for my D&D group was an accident. I had set an end fight for the first adventure of a new campaign. The monster at the end went from a one off combat to a continuous thorn in their side. It all happened because of a failed saving throw. That was how my villain’s story began.

We had decided to adventure in Planescape. The city of Sigil was a new setting and we were hot off of flying around Spell Jammer and wanted to try a more on the ground setting. Sigil was our first city campaign. The adventures were all going to start inside the city limits but would be able to branch out into where ever we needed them to. This was mostly based on the unique quality of Sigil that made it the City of Doors.

Since we’d never played a city campaign before I had decided to start everyone with a slight bit of familiarity. I sent them into the closest thing I could come to a dungeon; the sewers.

They were chasing a couple of kobold thieves who had run off with a small piece of the group’s property. They followed them into the sewer system for Sigil and trailed the thieves back to their warren. It was fairly standard adventure from there. They moved from section to section looking for traps and killing kobolds. The enemies were mostly standard kobold fighters with a couple of shamans. I think there were a couple of pet attack rats thrown in for good measure.

As they neared the end they began to hear whispers of Grishnak. Some of the kobolds mentioned him and what the terrible violence he would wreak against the players. I used wreak a lot back then; less so now, it sounded fantasy to me.

The group began to wonder what sort of monster Grishnak was. A goblin or possibly an orc. He couldn’t be an ogre. They were only level one. I wouldn’t throw an ogre at a first level party.

They entered the final room. A large area decorated with furs and stolen, broken, and discarded furniture. It was built across a large chamber where the wash from the sewers gathered into a rushing torrent. The floor was the metal grating over the rapids of filth that raced towards a large waterfall into the abysmal depths below.

Standing in the center of the area was Grishnak the Unkillable, Destroyer of Worlds; a level two kobold barbarian. He wore slightly too large studded leather armor that had clearly been made for someone larger. A scar down one side of his face hinted at previous combat. In his claws he carried a battle ax that glowed with an inner light.

We had come across the rules for giving monsters class levels and I decided to give Grishnak two levels of barbarian. I was even playing around with voices for some of my characters. In this instance I went with high pitched and a bit squeaky. Think Invader Zim.

I remember creating the description to fit the party. One of the members of the group was a Halfling and the armor would have fit him. Glowing with an inner light was our group’s cue that the weapon was enchanted, in this case a +1. It would have been the first piece of magic treasure for the group aside from a couple of potions.

I liked the fight because I’d given Grishnak an ability that let him shove people around if he hit for enough damage. I thought it would be fun to knock a couple of PC’s off the platform into the water below. I’d come up with some rules for what would happen. They got a save to grab the edge of the platform as they fell. If they hit the water there was enough space between them and the falls to make a swim check. They could either hold their position or if they rolled well enough get to one of the ladders on either side of the water. I also made allowances for another party member to throw them a rope and help them.

As is often the case for any Dungeon Master, I didn’t account for one thing. One of my players also had knockback on his character.

The fight started pretty well. The players dwarf fighter got hit and went off the edge. He made his save and was able to grab the ledge and start pulling himself back up. Grishnak got in a couple of more good hits. He focused the healer who was quickly in a bad way. The fighter made his climb check with a little help from the mage and was back in the fight.

The dwarf ran forward and struck Grishnak with his flail and launched him backwards towards the edge of the walkway. Grishnak failed his save and went over the edge. The group fired arrows and spells at him to get him while he was in the water. They mostly missed. Then Grishnak had a chance to save himself with a swim check. It wasn’t even a particularly difficult check. Most likely he’d survive. He had a good strength and could make the swim to shore roll fairly easily. Even if he didn’t hit that it would be really hard for him to fail the stay in place roll. I rolled a two. Grishnak, his armor, and magic axe sailed over the falls and he was gone.

This should have ended the epic story of Grishnak the Unkillable, Destroyer of Worlds. Except, I ran a Christmas adventure. We were approaching the holiday and I wanted to run something fun and a little silly. The group was around level five and I wanted to give them some fun stuff to deal with.

I decided to have Santa Claus hire the group through an intermediary. They were to go liberate a small town from a local lord who had gone mad with power and taxes. Using the power of Sigil I sent them to a small more traditional fantasy setting. To defeat the lord they needed to infiltrate his keep. There was a small side entrance that wasn’t as sturdy as the main way into the keep. The group decided to use this. I had them encounter some traps. Fight against a blind swordsman with a sword that had a permanent darkness spell cast on the blade so when it was drawn everything in sixty feet was cloaked in shadows.

Just before reaching the lord they faced Grishnak. I’d leveled him up a bit to match the party and gave him some better equipment, a lot more health, and a couple of minions. These included a kobold shaman.

The fight went well. The group waded in and started hacking away at Grishnak’s war band. The shaman cast a couple of buffs on Grishnak making him stronger and ramping his armor class. Grishnak spent one round taunting the group for what they had done to him. Then, with a bellow of rage, Grishnak got stuck in and nearly one shot the warrior with a critical hit.

The priest immediately responded with by fearing Grishnak and running him out of the room. The spell forced Grishnak to move as fast as he could directly away from the caster. This sent him sprinting deeper into the dungeon. Past the lord and into the treasure room.

At this point Grishnak made a partial save and stopped moving. He was still feared but unable to move. This condition lasted until the group arrived and began fighting the lord and his men. It faded as the group was finishing off the room.

I decided that Grishnak would see this and opt for the better part of valor. He grabbed what he could carry, a sack of gold and a girdle of giant strength. With full hands Grishnak ducked out through an emergency secret door into another part of the keep. He then bailed on the entire job and left the castle through the main gate while the players were mopping up.

Grishnak would return a couple of more times. He worked for a mage, a lich, and mob boss. Every time through a failed save or moment of opportunity he would end up ducking out the back through a treasure room with sacks of gold and a magic item or two. He was always wearing the items he’d stolen from the previous adventures. Taunting the group with their past failures and escaping once again.

I’d love to tell you how Grishnak’s story ended. Unfortunately, like most campaigns, our Planescape journey fizzled and died. Lack of time and new and exciting interest in other things took hold. Grishnak is still out there wreaking havoc.

I used him one other time. He was an opponent in an X-Crawl I wrote for my friends. They battled him in DJ Drexel’s Dayton Crawl. Unfortunately, none of the players were the same so there was no recognition of who he was. I will use him again. If we venture into D&D in the near future Grishnak will return in some form. Perhaps he finally got that war band he always dreamed of and is now ravaging the northern lands. He may even have conquered a small barony or fiefdom.

I hadn’t meant to create Grishnak. He was essentially an accident of dice and circumstance. I’ve created other villains who were specifically designed to challenge the party and force them to suffer. To be thrown at them again and again. Sometimes there was a level of success and sometimes not. However the rest performed, Grishnak was my first. I’ll not say best, but then he’s the only one they never killed.

Hero Deaths

I like the player characters. I’m invested in their story. I want them to win, to succeed, and to defeat the villains. Because of this, I’m one of those DM’s who doesn’t like to kill his plyer’s characters.

That said, I’m willing to do it.

It’s just I like to give them a heroic end. I want them to have a glorious death, a moment in the sun, and a story worth the telling. I want them to feel like the enemy earned that characters death or at the least paid for it.

Because of this, I’m torn by one of the mechanics in Dungeons & Dragons; Death Saves. For those of you unfamiliar with this bit of game play. When a hero is reduced to zero or fewer hit points they fall unconscious and begin making Death Saves on their turn. They simply need to roll a ten or higher on a twenty sided dice. As long as they accomplish this they will be continue to be one of the living. However, if they fail this test three times then they die and will need to consider rolling a new character or finding a way for the party to bring them back through magic.

I understand this in theory. It gives the players a buffer so their characters don’t just die but also keeps the fear of death very real. It gives the rest of the party at least three rounds to do something to save their friend. They can heal them, bind their wounds, or end the fight. All of these conditions save the character giving them a second lease on life. With healing magic it even gets them back in the fight. They can help take down the big bad. These are all great things and let the players worry about death without living in terror of it.

The problem I have is that if a player fails three Death Saves they die. The character performs the equivalent of bleeding out on the floor. An act I don’t find particularly heroic.

Yes, there is a tension there. I’ve been at tables where everyone is trying to get to the point where they can heal that player after the second failed save. I’ve even been the cleric who’s had to choose between healing fighter who will drop if I don’t and healing the character who just failed his second Death Save. There is real tension there.

Still watching someone fail that final Death Save and silently bleed out just sticks in my craw. It never feels satisfying. It sucks the fun out of the game.

Sometimes it’s sad, sometimes dramatic, and sometimes they can be used for a call to action. Still there’s a moment where the game sort of stops because we couldn’t do anything about that. This hero who has had grand adventures has just died. Passed on into the night and is gone. It’s hardly epic or amazing.

When do players get their Boromir moment? That point where they take one arrow after another. That point where they have died several times over but keep fighting because it’s necessary. When do they get a moment like Kikuchiyo in Seven Samurai, Vasquez in Aliens, Tony Montana in Scarface, V in V for Vendetta, and most of the 300?

To be fair the Death Save does have one more part. If you roll a natural twenty then you get a restored to health and jump back into the game. I’ve seen this happen as well. It’s truly a great moment. It feels good. It’s not the same. That character lived.

My point here isn’t about the ones that lived. It’s about the ones who fell.

When I’m not playing D&D and someone dies, I like to give them one last action. I give the player bonuses, maximum damage, and tons of fun little boosts. They can’t save themselves but they get one last drive to turn the tide, save the day, or hold the wall.

Then they die.

One last chance at glory. One last moment to shine.

The problem is that with the Death Saves, I feel like I’m robbing the moment as well as enforcing it. If a player fails their third death save and I have them suddenly leap up and be epic after lying their bleeding for three rounds. It doesn’t feel epic. It feels silly.

I like to give them some last words, maybe let their eyes flicker open and time slows so they can whisper a brief phrase of encouragement to a nearby party member. It’s a quieter moment, a sadder moment. It feels good but not the same epic moment that the other way falls.

I’ve considered giving players a choice. Maybe let them think their way through. Possibly get one last shot off with a ranged weapon, spell, or maybe a good throw dagger.

I don’t know. I may never know.

What about you? Have you ever come up with a different way to show character death?

Campaign Diary. Running a One Shot

We’ve gotten our group and have a rough idea about the type of story we want to tell. Where do I go from there? We have a lot of questions going forward. Do we like the system, the setting, and how everything works together? Because of this I’m going to run a one shot adventure.

I’ve decided to do this for a couple of reasons. First, I want to try the system. None of us have played in Cypher and it’ll be fun to give it the once over before we dive deep into it. This will give us a chance to see how things shake out and how we like the rules without getting too deeply in.

Second, it let me get familiar with the character creation system. This way I can walk the players through it if we decide to move forward. I’ll be able to give them the necessary tricks and tips I’ve learned from making the one shot heroes.

Third, we’re going to get to play in a superficial bit of the setting. We’ll get to play in the world and see how things shake out. I’m looking forward to getting a look at how these spies run around and do their thing.

In the end we’ll be able to see the system and setting, see how we like them, and then decided what to do going forward. If we like the story I’ll keep setting things up for that. If we like the Cypher system we’ll plan to keep using it. If one of these things falls flat we’ll try and come up with something new. If both of them are a bust then maybe we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.

Because I’m going to run the mission as a one shot it’s going to let me try some things. First off, I’m going to run this as a, “men on a mission,” story. I expect very few of them to live. I’m making six characters for a three person party so they’ll have some backups if a couple of them die. Ideally, if anyone is killed during the game we can slot in one of the other characters.

One of the long term reasons for this is that it’ll set up my villains. With the group having played against them and seen PC’s die, it will hopefully give them a sense purpose. I want my players to hate this group. I could do this with a regular game, but then I’m killing PC’s that the group spent time on. By doing it this way, I’m only killing pre-gens and not characters they’ve put effort into. It will build an emotional connection to the villains without putting undo stress on the players.

To further slam that home, I’ve given them the code names of high level members of the villain’s organization. I’ve also given them descriptions of all but one of them. It’s my hope that when we get down to the last pre-gen I’ll be far enough into the story that I can have that character be revealed as a traitor. I know it’s a cheap trick, but I think it will focus their rage at the group and the betrayer. That way, when they get to create their own characters and go in it will focus them. I want this to add stakes to their missions. Push them harder when they’re going after this group and frustrate them when they have to go after someone else.

I’m also going to use the one shot to test a mechanic that’s not a part of the Cypher system. I want to add a flashback mechanic. I’m going to give each player a poker chip and at any point during the game they can turn in their chip to have a flashback. I won’t be able to effect this at all. This will be them showing the moment where they bribed a guard, got a piece of specialized equipment, picked up a map, or infiltrated an area to drop something off for when they went through later. Basically, I’m letting them do the heist film moment where we see the heroes in trouble only to flashback to four hours earlier when they left a set of handcuff keys in the cell.

I’m doing this because this is a spy game and I’m trying to recreate the fast moving style of the films and television of the 70’s and 80’s I don’t want to get bogged down in planning.  This is another reason to try this in a one shot. If it doesn’t work the players might want to plan their assaults and missions rather than getting thrown in. If they would rather plan we’ll drop this and let them plan. My thought is that using flashbacks will make up for limited time and allow us to drive the story.

Anyway, that’s a couple of the reasons I’m running a one shot of the Cypher System to see how the game works. In the end it may not matter. I’ll see where we go and how we get there.

I’ll be back next week to talk about something else. What would you like to hear about? Any questions?

My Best D&D Story

With my Cypher game waiting to get off the ground I decided to take a little time to tell stories about my best memories from D&D and other RPG’s. Today, I’m going to talk about my best memory from running Dungeons & Dragons.

I had applied to participate in and was accepted to a fantasy and gaming themed gallery exhibit in Chicago. The Co-Prosperity Sphere and Pentagon Gallery tasked me with creating a low level adventure that would last for the entirety of the exhibit; eight hours a day over three days. I created my own story, created some characters in case people coming wouldn’t have any, and organized the entire package into folders, baggies, and pouches so that everything would be ready to go with little set up.

The entire week end from start to finish was amazing. I had so much fun. It was great to be a part of the weekend and I can’t tell you how good it was to be there.

My adventure set the players against a cult that was attempting to summon Loth the Spider God. It started small with a couple of missing children and wet forward from there. I moved the players between several towns and had them enter crypts and tombs to face off against the dark forces arrayed against them.

The area we played in was built to look like a typical 70’s era basement. It had a folding table, a hideous couch, and orange shag carpet you could lose a small dog in. It was amazing. In place of a lamp we had a light up Santa Claus. In addition to this, our space was backed by a theatre area that was being used to show D&D inspired fantasy movies over the course of the event. It gave the event a certain air of life.

It was the middle of the second day and we were getting ready to break for lunch. They had just finished delving through the second tomb. They’d followed the cult down into the depths. The villains had taken some children with them. After the first ritual the group interrupted they knew these children were going to be used as part of the ritual. The tomb had a stone slab over the door with an inscription around the key stone that would seal the way locking everything inside. However, they needed to save the children and entered.

The tomb showed signs of combat. Several skeletons lay scattered around the halls and alcoves. Interspersed with them were the bodies of cultists. It was clear they had to fight their way in to reach the ritual site and the group would have an easier time of dealing with them.

The group reached the grand chamber at the end of the tomb. The cultists were gathered around a large ritual circle where the head acolyte chanted in a long forgotten language. In one corner half a dozen children were tied with ropes and clearly terrified. The acolyte turned to face the room and saw the players standing in the main door.

At this point I called for initiative.

At this exact moment, on the other side of the wall, Conan and his friends entered the tower of the Snake Cult in Conan the Barbarian and the soundtrack began the slow steady rhythm of stealth.

The players immediately jumped into action. The healer gathered the children and guided them into the hall and to safety. The tank placed himself in between the fleeing children and the cultists. The melee spell caster started launching area spells into the cultists. The archer began firing into the crowd trying to do as much damage as possible.

The cultists charged the group. The tank keeping them at bay. The caster kept hurling spells into the crowd. The acolyte cast a spell and tore into the flesh of the tank nearly crippling him. The healer paused to cast one of their few range heals to keep the tank standing. The archer took aim and critically hit the acolyte; killing him instantly.

The acolyte screamed in pain as a small portal the size of a softball opened and he was sucked through it. His body breaking and tearing as he was pulled in. The last thing the group saw was his head as it was crushed to fit into the portal. With the head through the opening the portal ripped open revealing an army of demons standing shoulder to shoulder on a narrow bridge trying to fight their way into the real world.

At this point Conan and his friends were discovered and the soundtrack soared.

The players quickly began retreating down the hall as demons began stepping through the portal. One of the children screamed in terror as the dead cultists littering the hallway behind them stood; a zombie. The group realized they were surrounded. The archer put away her bow, drew a sword, and lay into the zombies in order to protect the children. The priest turned what they could. The zombies were numerous and kept coming. The caster threw spells first one direction then the other.

The group began making head way. They found a rhythm and used it. Kill a target, move a couple of feet, and set for the next assault. They had hope in their eyes.

That’s when one of them noticed the demons in the portal. Through the crowd a large demon, huge and bulky, was advancing up the bridge. It was shoving the smaller demons out of its way and off the bridge. It reached the portal and stepped through. It roared so loud it shook the walls.

The group gave up an even push and shoved for the entrance way. Launching every spell and weapon at the zombies in their path they made their way up through the tomb and reached the stairs. They healer led the children to safety. The archer followed and took charge of the kids as the healer prepared the ritual to seal the tomb. The tank and caster worked to move the giant stone slab into place and started piling everything heavy on top of it.

Then the spider demon attacked.

A creature made of nightmares bound from the shadows. It was the acolyte stitched back together in an unholy way. Limbs protruded at odd angles. He crab-walked around the room, his head firmly fixed the wrong way around glared at the players. It screamed in pain and terror as it attacked the player. It tried to focus the healer as he worked the ritual. The rest of the team alternated between killing it and protecting the healer and the children.

Rounds went by and the healer made one check after another until the ritual was complete. The demon died shortly after that. Silence fell over the tomb.

The high priest of the snake god’s temple fired an arrow that slew the Valkyrie. The music in the movie ended.

This is my best memory of D&D. My players hadn’t all met before that first night. They came in pairs. Two of them hadn’t ever played D&D before. That weekend was filled with great moments. I had the joy of describing the villain for the third time and having one of my players announce, “I fucking hate this guy.” I ran an adventure I wrote in a museum surrounded by art, music, and other games and gamers.

That moment was a combination of the encounter working just the way I envisioned it. Moving with highs and lows as the players fought against them. It went from getting the drop on the cultists to being discovered. Killing the acolyte only to have him open the portal and free the demons. Finding a balance with the demons only to have the huge ones begin to spill into the room. Getting out of the tomb to be attacked by the spider demon. Every moment had a counter point. Every low cam with a boost. The explosion of the portal opening killed cultists. The large demon roaring destroyed demons. The balance of these things worked fantastically.

Add to this the players themselves were a huge part of this. As much as they swore when something bad happened they told jokes. They laughed at critical failures and cheered critical hits. Without having ever met they jelled in such a great way. They all told me what a great time they’d had and how much fun it had been. Everybody enjoyed themselves. They worked together in a way I rarely see seasoned players function as a team.

Finally, the music. I don’t know how I did it. I know I’d never succeed at it if I tried to do it on purpose. Somehow that fight lasted exactly as long as the sequence from that movie. From one end to the other it just flowed. From the music starting when I asked for initiative to the last note playing as the spider demon fell. I can’t imagine how it happened or worked.

I love D&D and other role-play games. I’ve have many experiences both good and bad over the many years I’ve played. Some of them are games I’ve run some I’ve played in. Some are D&D and then there are other things as well. I’ll share some of them here as I go forward.

Next week I’m not sure what I’ll share here. If we move forward with the spy campaign I might jump back into what I’m doing there. If we don’t maybe I’ll talk about my friend Scot’s Undermountain campaigns.

Let me know, what was your best RPG moment?

Pitching a New Campaign

The time came to pitch a new campaign to my players and see what they though and if anything interested them. I decided to take a page from Matt Coville’s book. (Find the video where he talks about it here.) I decided to send out ideas for three separate campaigns. I later amended this and added a fourth.

I picked each of these to appeal to different levels of ideas and play styles. Through the Breach was meant to be more thoughtful and role-play based. There would be a little bit of combat but overall I wanted to focus on solving mysteries and puzzles.

X-Crawl was used because I wanted a setting that would be mostly combat but could still give players the ability to roll play. Even with the focus on combat encounters can still have puzzles attached to them.

With the Cypher system pulp game I wanted to go with a more balanced approach. I figured some combat and puzzles with a fair amount of easy pulpy roleplay could work.

I added the spy setting a few days later when I was watching a video where they asked about old cancelled PC games. It reminded me of an old spy game called the Agency. I was very disappointed at that games cancellation and was struck by an idea for a campaign.

Here is the first list I sent out with the added campaign idea tacked on to the back.

Through the Breach

The story begins: you receive a letter from Doctor Hershel G. Beaufort. He’s a well-respected member of society. Trained in the forensic sciences and criminal law he is known in certain circles for dismantling several criminal organizations. He has invite you to join him in Malifaux.

A series of disappearances has overlapped with a case he’s working on and his investigation has lead him into territory he is unfamiliar with; the supernatural. Do to your knowledge, reputation, or history he has invited you to join him at the Beaufort Manor in Malifaux to aid in this case.

Types of characters: someone who can lend skill and knowledge to a supernatural investigation. Mages, professors, researchers, and such would be useful here. Additionally, the mystery could involve dealing with more mundane threats as well so anyone with skills in that area are necessary. Also, in Malifaux, a legitimate strategy for dealing with ghosts is to shoot them in the face.

Types of problems: Most of the story will revolve around the mystery at hand. People are disappearing and Beaufort needs to find out why and if it’s connected to his case or something else. To this end combat will be light. It will happen, there will be shooting and punching, but for the most part wits and ingenuity will be involved. There will also be a series of puzzles that become a part of the story.

Cypher System

The story begins: You are a team of archeologists/adventures rolling around the 1930’s. You travel the world finding lost artifacts from forgotten cultures. While going through a dig in Brazil you come across a new group that appears to have a no regard for history. It’ll be up to you to beat them to the artifact and get it to the British Museum so the world can learn from it. Of course, there is also the mystery of the Egyptian hieroglyphs on the walls of crypt in Brazil.

Types of characters: Adventures, researchers, and social persons. You’ll need to be able to survive running through dart traps as well as punching a mysterious foe. You’ll also need to be able to interact with the locals making a linguist or translator of some sort necessary. A good smuggler or someone who has lots of friends in those sort of places could be useful. Honestly, look to Nathan Drake, Lara Croft, Indiana Jones, Evelyn Carnahan, and Ben Gates for inspiration.

Types of problems: Puzzles and fighting; sometimes simultaneously. You’ll need to be able to hold your own in a fight against the group put against you. You’ll also have to deal with criminals, mercenaries, and more esoteric threats. Puzzles will be more of the: what switch, pictogram, or spot do I press, step on, or avoid. I look to have a more pulpy adventure here.

Possible issue: I’ve not used the Cypher system before but I think for the purposes of the story I want to tell it should work pretty well here. I like a lot of the item rules and how checks are done. It comes with one shot items, decent dice system, and challenge ratings that should make throwing stuff at you on the fly pretty easy.

X-Crawl

The story begins: you are the new up and coming team headed to Division 3 for the first time. Entering the full lethal category of X-Crawl is nerve wracking but exciting. You’ve trained, worked as a group, and are ready to go. It’s time to run that dungeon.

Types of characters: X-Crawl uses Pathfinder rules because they haven’t translated the X-Crawl classes to DCC yet. That said, pretty much standard adventure classes here, though I would recommend trying to work in a little bit of the X-Crawl specific classes. Instead of a cleric maybe go for a messenger; that sort of thing. Even multi-class could be useful here as you’ll all start at I believe 4^th level. One thing’s for certain charisma is important. It’s at least a secondary stat for X-Crawl so you can get the crowd on your side.

Types of problems: This is going to be mostly a combat focused game. There will be puzzles but they will be in the realm of looking good on tv. I like to do stuff that takes part outside of the dungeon but nothing too strenuous. This will mostly be quick character moments with little beats of getting to know the locals.

Task Force Theta

The story begins: world-wide corruption has reached a new peak, nations are tearing themselves apart with civil wars, and new extremists groups are rising to power with unprecedented power. Some believe that there may be an as yet unknown shadow organization behind the entire thing. This is shrugged off as an internet conspiracy by everyone, well…almost everyone.

Damien Samuels, ‘former’ security chief for the UN, wants to see if there’s any truth behind the rumor. You’ve been selected and recruited from the best of the best regardless of nation to form this group. Your first mission, infiltrate a charity event in Monte Carlo. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.

Types of Characters: Like Egypt game above, I’d like to use the Cypher system here because I like the rules for enemies that will allow me to give you enough disposable mooks while still throwing the occasional lieutenant in your direction to challenge you. The skill system is easy enough to create scenes on the fly without having to over think it too much or look up a lot of charts and architypes. Plus the “artifact” rules make it easy to include things like grenade cufflinks, tricked out cars, laser pens, and tracking devices.

For characters, I’d basically use any type of spy character from whatever country you feel would be fun to play. Want to be a Russian, awesome. French, sure. American, what the hell. North Korean, we’ll figure it out.

Types of problems: let’s be honest, at this point you already know what sort of stuff you’ll have to face off against. Hulking brutes with metal teeth, Japanese guy with a deadly hat, and an acrobatic young woman who’s replaced her legs with razor sharp stilts.

I’m not saying I’m going to rip off every spy movie ever, but I’ll certainly be looking in their general direction.

The Meeting

After I sent this out we met for our regular game group and discussed which setting we preferred. People and their favorites and the settings they didn’t like. One person hard passed on Through the Breach because they didn’t like that there wasn’t an organization that were the good guys. A couple of people passed on X-Crawl because we’d just finished a dungeon crawler and they wanted to try something else. The final person passed on pulp adventure because they felt that they didn’t know enough about those type of stories to contribute. This left us the spy game. Which met with only one criticism. Someone didn’t like the name. Which I had intended to change anyway.

From here I sent out a list of questions.

Modern politics

Is the President of the United States Trump or Jackson?

Who’s developing nuclear weapons, North Korea or a rogue African dictator?

Is Isis or Oxomo a major terrorist organization?

PC’s

Do you want to play just one character or do you want to have a stable of characters and choose which you’ll play before or after the mission briefing? This setting can easily be the IMF method where everyone is good at everything but fantastic at one thing or the GI Joe method where everyone is specialized to the nth degree and you pick who fits the mission and Snake Eyes.

Level of cheese

There will be a level of gadgets and technology where on the scale would you like to be?

Matt Helm

A Team

Moore Bond

The Avengers (Peele and Steed)

Brosnon Bond

IMF

Dalton Bond

Connery Bond

Craig Bond

Bourne

An additional question came back, and that was which era were we playing in? I had assumed modern day but put the question to everyone else.

In the end, we went with the 1950’s which removed the politics from the game. Since we wouldn’t be reflecting modern life we didn’t have to worry about causing any uncomfortable conversations to occur. We’ll be focusing on the Eisenhower era so no one has any particular feelings about his as president and we can just play the game.

For PC’s we’re going with the IMF model of everyone being all-rounders with a specialization. This let’s each player focus on playing a specific character and not trying to remember bits and pieces of a stable of characters.

For level of goofy, I think we’re touching down somewhere between the Avengers and the Roger Moore era Bond. This gives me access to some fun gadgets while still having threatening villains with dark stakes. I’m quite happy with all of this.

Finally, there has been some question as to the system we would be playing. I recommended Cypher in the initial email but Genesys from Fantasy Flight Games has come up and that could be a possibility.

To this end we’re going to try a one shot to see what people think of what I have planned. We’ll try Cypher and see how that works. I’m creating some PC’s for the adventure. I’m looking to do a men on a mission sort of story.

I think I’ll save that for the next time I write about this.

I’d love to hear what you folks think. Are there any good spy RPG’s with the right feel I’m looking for that could work here? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Campaign Postmortem

I’m working to get a new campaign off the ground. As I’m doing this the discussion of what went wrong on the last campaign has come up. I’ve been thinking about this. I want try and avoid what happened to the last one.

This isn’t the first time a campaign I’ve been a part of died. I’ve hit all of the old reasons: time got away from everyone, life moved on, people moved, had a kid, or the DM gave up gaming. These things happen to all of us. The reason I’m looking at this one is it felt different. There was a lot of guessing as to why it fell apart.

I wanted to write down what I came up with. Partially to help me, but also to see if it helps someone else.

A Bit of Background.

We were playing Rappan Athuk. I was one of the players in this group. DM duties went to a friend of mine who had run the dungeon before and really enjoyed it. Everyone was excited to play because we hadn’t played an RPG in a while. I don’t know what the typical experience of this module is but here is ours.

We created a first level party for Sword and Wizardry. Used a roll four dice keep three method and discussed amongst ourselves what the types of classes we needed were.

I’m told there are multiple ways to get involved in this adventure ours was this. My character won a deed to an old keep in a poker game. We then went up to claim it for my family, who were minor nobles. We traveled to the area, walked to the keep, and found it occupied. While on the journey there we heard rumors of other problems and threats in the area that we all assumed were hints at future adventures.

The keep was well laid out. There were multiple ways in and different paths through the keep once inside. There was a decent set of monsters. We faced a lot of goblins. We found their leader and learned they were part of a cult. We found a magically locked room we had to figure out how to get into. There was decent treasure, a couple of random standout encounters that were well designed and fit into the area, and a decent NPC encounter.

After a couple of levels and a setback or two we took the keep and started getting it back in fighting shape. We hired builders and mercenaries to stand guard over it. Then we set to investigating the rumors in the surrounding area. One of these rumors led us to a cave under a hill. Entering there we found a large sprawling complex. This is where the game started to falter.

The complex, called the Mouth of Doom, was full of hallways. There were some traps and a few monsters. A couple of large rooms with some things that were set up to thwart us. We’d lost a PC but they player rolled up a new character and we kept going.

We mapped the first level and decided to head deeper in. But before we continued it was decided that we change systems and play Pathfinder. So we spent a session creating new characters.

This is when I realized I didn’t want to keep playing. I just didn’t. I politely bowed out and said on the nights where we play Rappan Athuk I just wouldn’t show up. Everyone was okay with that and the game moved on without me. From this point I can’t speak to what happened.

I can report that they did play some more. At first they played pretty regularly. Every second or third week. They would gather and play and I would go and do something else. I’m not sure why, but they started meeting less and less frequently. I take that back, the group at this point was only three people and one of them ended up going on a long vacation with his family. With him away the others didn’t want to play with just a DM and two players.

Then they just sort of stopped playing. Even once the other player had returned from vacation they just never really played again. They met for maybe one or two sessions.

What Happened Next

I write reviews for Meeplegamers.com and occasionally I would get an RPG to review. I asked the group and everyone agreed that we could get together and try one of these games. We agreed to do it as a one or two night game. I’ve been a part of a couple of these and they were fun.

We started talking about maybe trying to play an RPG again. I thought this meant that they would be playing Rappan Athuk and I would be sitting out again. It never happened.

I watch some RP streams, LA by Night, the Dragon Friends, and Weave. As the talk of RPG’s continued I wanted to play too. The group kept not playing and I started writing a campaign document for Through the Breach. Since my group wasn’t seeming to go back to Rappan Athuk I decided to pitch them the idea of a new game. I wrote up a brief description of a couple of possible games and settings and sent them out as an email.

People responded and we got together for our regular night and everyone pitched in their ideas and opinions and we picked a game we’ll be playing moving forward. During this conversation about what to play next the question of why we weren’t playing Rappan Athuk came up.

That’s when I started this project.

Is it the DM’s Fault

It’s easy in a situation like this to pile on the DM. It was their game so it had to be their fault. I was even a part of this camp when everything started to go wrong. I decided it was how he was running the game.

I don’t know exactly why we blame our DM’s. Maybe it’s just easier to shift the blame to them. They weren’t running a good enough game. It takes the burden off of ourselves. That’s an attractive option. It can’t be my fault. I’m a god damned delight. Thus, the DM, who put so much, work, time, and effort into setting this up is to blame. It had to be them.

I’m not saying that it’s never the DM’s fault. Sometimes it just drops on their shoulders for one reason or another. Sometimes it’s completely fair that they were to blame.

However, it’s still worth a look.

What Went Wrong

Since the conversation happened there was a point afterwards where I felt it necessary to express my opinion. When doing so, I reminded the DM as well as myself of all the other times I had played with them. The different modules that we had dipped into. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil or The World’s Largest Dungeon. These are huge funhouse dungeons filled with traps and beasts. They are laden with difficult encounters and outrageous treasures. They had both been tons of fun.

Why didn’t I like Rappan Athuk?

As I started to think about this I went through and detailed all of the things that had happened in the adventure. The first part, clearing the keep, had been fun. I enjoyed the puzzles of figuring out which entry way to take, which monsters to fight, when to set up ambushes, and the story hooks that promised later surprises.

The keep was great.

There was never a session of clearing the keep that felt stale or stagnate. Figuring out the safest way through while taking advantage of the different avenues into through the structure were a joy. I remember so many specific instances of what happened in there. Things I don’t want to spoil in case you might one day find yourself clearing that same structure.

After we cleared the keep we started looking into the rumors that abound of the area. Everything from bandits to dragons were talked about in hushed whispers at the nearest inns and trading posts. Where would we go first?

Near the keep was a hill that held the entrance to a cave complex. We decided to go there. Into what I would later learn was called the Mouth of Doom. According to the locals a group of bandits had turned it into their base of operations and were striking out at travelers and caravans.

This is where things turned.

You see, the Mouth of Doom, was mostly empty. Long stretches of barren hall way, abandoned rooms, and traps. Most of the encounters were traps. And there still wasn’t a lot of them and they weren’t that clever. They were mostly just pits. We spent a long time mapping tunnels and finding nothing.

We spent maybe too much time trying to inch our way through the dungeon trying not to set off one of the infamous Rappan Athuk death traps. Super hard challenges that could wipe out your entire party with a single bad dice roll.

In truth, there were none of these.

We’d heard stories about how epic and dangerous Rappan Athuk could be. There had been evidence of that in the keep. It taught us to take our time and advance slowly, methodically through the halls to prevent ourselves from being caught out and killed.

It never happened. Not once in the Mouth of Doom did I feel threatened or in danger. I would drop in the occasional pit and feel annoyed, but never worried. There was never an encounter that made me think we weren’t going to win.

After weeks of slowly moving down one tunnel after another I was done. I didn’t want to go back into Rappan Athuk, it was dull.

I asked a couple of the other players what they’d thought of the level. If they could remember more than I could. But they couldn’t. It was all the same empty rooms to them as well.

They even described what came after and said they go to a point where in order to advance they had to mine through walls.

Rappan Athuk had performed the greatest sin of all; it was boring. That’s why I stopped, not because of the DM, though he got the blame, the module itself was just dull.

Looking at the Dungeon

I was very curious about why people remember the dungeon the way they do and so I looked into it. I read reviews, watched videos, and even hit up the wiki. In this a couple of things kept coming up.

First: Every review I found loved the adventure. They talked about the creative encounters, well written story, and challenge level. They all loved the challenge level. This makes sense, it’s a hard module. Having beat it or even just advanced a long distance is a badge of honor.

Second: They all talked about how it had been one of their first adventures and were so excited to see other people playing. They were going to get to share this adventure with new players. I get this. I love it when I hear someone else talk about the Undermountain, Pool of Radiance, or any of the other big modules I’ve played through.

The final thing they all seemed to talk about was the best parts of the adventure. They all talked about the middle and the bottom. The only upper level anyone talked about was a graveyard that apparently has multiple entrances. No one talked about the Mouth of Doom other than to show off the map since it was an early level and they didn’t feel it was spoiling anything.

I think this is where the problem comes in. Back in the day I played a lot of these funhouse dungeons. I remember fighting epic battles and getting awesome treasures. I remember all of the fun we had stomping around these sand boxes. However, when I calm down and really think about those times. I mean really think. I remember a lot of empty space.

Different DM’s have treated this empty space differently. My friend Scot ran the Undermountain for three different groups that I was a part of. He kept meticulous notes from one campaign to the next. He filled multiple poster maps of empty space with communities, monsters, warring factions, and deadly traps.

I’ve also had DM’s who left that space empty. Other adventurers had cleared these spaces and we followed in their footsteps. The tension was in the anticipation of what was around the next corner or next random encounter.

Both of these ways are perfectly valid. There really isn’t a right or wrong way to do it. However, we knew going in what we were up against. We that when Scot ran the game we had to be more careful because he’d fill every nook and cranny with details. In games with less stuff we knew to be more casual about the exploration.

With Rappan Athuk everything we knew about this place was that it was super deadly and murder came from the shadows at any moment. Unfortunately, by the time we had started moving through the tunnels they were actually empty. We were acting as if the tunnels were full to tunnels that were empty.

In the end that made the upper levels of the dungeon boring.

We played for a couple weeks in a row where all we did was map empty hallways. We didn’t face any monsters, find NPC’s, or deal with treacherous puzzles. We hit the occasional pit trap. That was exciting the first time. Then it wasn’t anymore.

I don’t know how much deeper we had to go to get to stuff that wasn’t empty hallways. I talked to one of the players who kept going after I left and he said the last game they played they had been teleported into a large section of maze where every ten foot section had been walled off. They had been separated and needed to find everyone. They spent a large chunk of a section tunneling through one wall a day in order to get to the next nearest person.

I’m sure that someone reading this has had a different experience with Rappan Athuk. I can’t speak to your experience. I can only talk about mine. That said; I’d love to hear what happened to you and how the dungeon was different than what we experienced.

I’m sure my DM will be able to tell many similar stories about when he went into the depths of Rappan Athuk.

The Dungeon Master

I know I’ve said a lot about how we had knee-jerk reaction and blamed the DM. However, I think there were a couple of places where he sort of teed up this problem.

After the fact our DM told me that one of the reasons he ran Rappan Athuk was because he felt that it was the best written adventure he’d ever used, he thought it would be fun, and he wouldn’t want to beat his head against the table while playing D&D.

He doesn’t like D&D. He has a lot of problems with the system and decided that since everyone wants to play D&D he’d capitulate and run this dungeon he loved. This sounds like a pretty good compromise.

There are a couple of problems that come from this. One of these is that if he isn’t having fun, he might not notice that someone else isn’t having fun. I was not enjoying myself. I didn’t like the system we were using. When we switched systems and I was sitting there rolling a new character, I just wasn’t looking forward to it. There’s a post here that explains why I don’t play D&D anymore. You can check that out.

This is the other problem. Our DM made the assumption that we all wanted to play D&D. This wasn’t true. We all wanted to play a roleplay game. He suggested D&D because he decided that it was what we wanted to play. To be fair, everyone else was perfectly fine with this. They all enjoy D&D and wanted to play. I wanted to play with my friends and was willing to play Swords and Wizardry. Basically, Our DM made a lot of assumptions about something he didn’t want to do but decided to suffer through.

Final Thoughts

I think there’s a lot of blame to go around. I should have said something to the DM when I wasn’t having fun. I should have noticed in myself why I wasn’t having fun. I decided it was how he was running the game and just walked away. If I had thought about it for a while I might have noticed why I wasn’t having fun. I might even have spotted the DM wasn’t having as good a time as everyone else.

The module as we encountered it was flawed. That style of adventure was fine for the early days of D&D but anymore I want a bit more going on. I don’t think too many people are willing to sit around a table and explore empty hall for several hours. We’ve gotten a lot of entertainment options at our fingertips these days. People want their fantasies to have a plot.

Personally, as a writer, I’m all for that. However, there are people who feel D&D should be run the way it was back in the day. You went to a place because there was treasure, you fought monsters because they had the treasure, and you explored tombs and dungeons for less lofty goals. To steal from Burt Reynolds we did it for the glory, for the money, and for the fun. Mostly the money.

Rappan Athuk is glory, money, and fun. I want a plot. I want an episode of TV, a good film, or nice story. I can’t speak for everyone in my group, but part of why I walked away was glory, money, fun aren’t enough anymore.

The DM, as near as I can tell, wasn’t having a good time. I’ve been the DM not having a good time. Back in the day. When that happened I addressed it to the players. I wrote a letter and sent it out to see what everyone thought of the campaign and minded if I changed things. Not everyone does that. My friend assumed everyone was having fun.

Even after I left he joked that the only reason I did it was because I didn’t like Pathfinder. He never expressed his dislike of D&D. He assumed that we wanted to only play D&D. He should have asked. Should have told us what he wanted and would have preferred to play. I also should have corrected him on his assumption about why I left.

Why Write This

As I said, I did this for myself in a lot of ways. I wanted to organize my thoughts and see how I should move forward in starting my own campaign. One of the things I’ve already done was give my players options. I sent out an email where I listed a selection of settings and rules sets. I’ll probably share it around here at some point. Maybe next week.

I’ve also approached one of my players and asked him to let me know if he sees people getting bored. I want to know if I’m missing it.

I also think it might help someone else to think about these things. Maybe you’re in a campaign that isn’t going anywhere fast and you’re not sure what to do. I know I’m not really giving answers but maybe you can find your own here.

Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough.

I think I’ll stop here.

Thanks for stopping by, let me know what you think. I’d love to hear.

Through the Breach Campaign Document part 5: Heavy Hitters

While I think the group may end up interacting with some of the big names in Malifaux I don’t expect them to engage these people in combat. More often than not, the PC’s will be dealing with the fallout from two or more of the big guns going at each other. That said, they may interact with them on a social or informative level. I’m not sure who they’ll go to for information or who they’ll be able to talk their way into a meeting with.

Here are a couple of people that they’ll come across as they uncover the mystery of the Sin Eater and Beaufort Manor.

Guild: Sonia Crid. As head witch hunter for the Guild Sonia is the one who gets brought in when investigating the mystical goings on around Malifaux. She’ll also have custody of Randal Kreps when the campaign begins. She got involved by detecting the spikes in power around the city. She was caught off guard by the first ritual but was a bit more prepared for the second. She actually missed Kreps by minutes when she tracked the second location. She was even more prepared for the third and was able to arrive just after it started.

Since she’s captured him she’s kept Kreps alive so she can interrogate him. However, she also got some of his notes that he had on him at the ritual site and since then has become singularly focused on finding out what part of the ritual is missing. If she were actually to spend any time looking into the matter she might have figured out about the Sin Eaters and find their ultimate location.

As the group gets closer to finding the library they might encounter Sonia as her research begins to pan out. However, she’ll end up distracted by other factors.

Samuel Hopkins: As Sonia’s right hand he’s always nearby and in many cases picking up the slack when she gets too focused on her personal quest for power and knowledge. As the only person she still talks to he is aware of what Sonia is doing right now. If the groups thinks to approach Sonia and manages to get a meeting it’ll be Samuel who shows up. He’ll be helpful but noncommittal. He’ll also try and avoid letting on what’s happening with Sonia.

Hopkins may even pitch in with the group for a limited time, especially if he feels there’s an imminent threat. If it’s a minor problem he could be convinced to loan out a Witchling Handler and one or two Stalkers.

Arcanists:

Collette: As one of the Arcanists most prominent members Collette is always looking to strike a deal to get Soul Stone shipments out of the city and back to Earthside. Since she uses the sewers for transport she won’t get involved until very late in the game. In fact she’ll only become a part of this after the library is opened. If the inhabitant is allowed to roam free they’ll grab and possess one of Collette’s showgirls.

If the group encounters the inhabitant after they’ve possessed the showgirl then the group might think to approach Collette. Though she’ll be unlikely to offer aid, she might be able to give them an edge in the fight. She might also be involved if Sonia shows up at the wrong moment.

Neverbourne:

Pandora: Pandora has a wide stock of orphanages throughout the city that she uses for recruitment. The Matron who runs one of them was killed by a Sin Eater. She recognized the signs of the creatures passing and is now on the lookout for it. Unfortunately, she’ll get involved a bit too late to deal with anything concrete and if she should encounter the PC’s she’ll watch from a distance and see what they’re capable of. If she really wants information from inside the house she’ll send in one of her charges, most likely a newer less well known child.

Ten Thunders:

Jakob Lynch: A couple of the Sin Eater victims were members of Lynch’s staff and a few were patrons. He’s too new to what’s going on to know about the threat the Sin Eater poses. He is interested to learn what happened to the people connected to him so will be generally helpful for the PC’s. He’ll answer questions and point the PC’s in the right direction if they really need it but for the most part, he’ll leave them be.

Other characters they might come across but have no real impact on the story.

McMourning: if the group asks to see one of the bodies then it’s possible they’ll meet McMourning in the morgue.

Nicodem: Similar to McMourning the PC’s could come across Nicodem if they go to a grave site.

VonSchill: If the group spends a lot of time in the quarantine zone they could come across Von Schill’s people, it’s unlikely they’ll meet him but they might run into his people.

That’s where I am right now. I’ve talked to my group about playing a RPG I’ll come back with what we decided to do for a start.