What Goblin Slayer Teaches About Low Level Monsters

There is a new anime that's been getting talked about a lot. It's called Goblin Slayer. You can probably find the episodes on Youtube, though I'll warn you before you do that the first episode is very dark. By dark I mean brutality, death, nudity in a way I can only describe as violent (and that is supposed to make you uncomfortable), and, yes, rape. The rape is not directly on screen, but it's not far from it. If any of this is going to bother you, do not watch the first episode of Goblin Slayer. The later episodes are not as dark - since the world is already established - but these are key parts of the world and they're front and center in all their brutality in episode one.

That said, if you can stomach those things, Goblin Slayer is a good show that in a lot of ways mimics many a D&D game. Adventurers go out on jobs for coin returns where they solve problems. Higher ranked adventurers fight bigger monsters like demons, dragons, ogres, etc. Lower ranked adventurers do less rewarding jobs which often means things like goblins. Just, in this world, the Goblins very much have a Tucker's Kobolds vibe going for them. Today I want to talk about that.

Using Item Flavor To Tell The Story Of Your World

It's almost expected that as characters go around adventuring that they're going to find and pick up all sorts of gear. Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder have this down to the point that people just expect a certain level of item at certain points in a game or you can feel like you're behind - or at the least that the GM is being stingy. Even in non-D&D games, it's not uncommon - at least for the groups around here - for the PCs to pretty much loot everything they can. Your PCs kill 4 goons? Expect them to take those goons weapons.

All these weapons, armor, and other items being picked up provides an opportunity for telling more about the world, but I find I leave that opportunity on the table most times. Today I want to talk about that.

Discussion: Do You Like Specialty Dice?

Fantasy Flight Games with both their Star Wars RPG and L5R have made systems where you use specialty dice to determine results. The idea in both games is the dice give you more than just numbers to add up, but several meaningful things to the game.

FATE also has specialty dice - fudge dice in specific - where you roll D6s that have 2 blank sides, 2 plus sides, and 2 minus sides. The idea being to get a result from -4 to +4 on every check before applying skills, aspects, and other bonuses.

My question to you today is do you like these dice? A lot of people seem to take issue with them, and they definitely add to the cost of what can be an already expensive game system. But even if expensive do they add to the game?

My answer is split. While I like what fudge dice are trying to do, this is just numbers in another way. There's no reason you couldn't use regular dice and just adjust how the ladder is so that a 4-8 result was "bad" a 12-16 was "neutral" and a 20-24 was "good" and more or less have the same ladder. Or just use other dice to get a similar range.

However, when it comes to Fantasy Flight Games, while I don't like that a set of Star Wars dice is not enough for an experienced character to make a hard check, I do find that the Success/Advantage/Triumph/Failure/Threat/Despair potential of the dice does add a lot to the game and how it plays out. In the same way L5R's Success/Strife/Opportunity/Explosive Success adds more to the game than just dice.

Essentially, while the cost may be prohibitive, if I remove that factor from the equation I really like what FFG has done with the dice. If I put it back in, it just comes down to whether or not the cost is worth for what it adds. And with that, I bought the Star Wars die roller for $5 when it came out years ago, and that means I don't need to buy dice for any FFG Star Wars game they've released, which is a hell of a value. As for L5R? Buying a couple sets means I have enough dice for all the players at my table - though it means sharing somewhat - and that cost is worth it to me for the game world I love.

What about you? Do you like them? Is it worth it in some situations?

Plotting an Epic

With the release of the new L5R game, I've thought it would be a neat idea to try and plot out a campaign that could truly be an epic story. By epic here I mean grandiose in scale, not necessarily "the best game ever" though obviously that would also be amazing. I've run long term L5R games before, but in smaller and more episodic chunks rather than something that really went from A-Z with a big plan for everything from the beginning. However, RPGs and the nature of how they work make some of this tricky. Today I want to talk about the biggest obstacles I see, and key design elements that could hopefully address them.

Sick Day

I apologize, I've come down with a nast bug so there will be no post today. Will try to get one up for tomorrow and friday like normal.

L5R 5e: Emotions, Drama, And Making It Happen

One of the magical things about the time we're living in is that it seems almost all the big RPGs from my youth are now on their 5th edition. What is also interesting is that in that 5th edition many games are embracing the story telling, role play, and drama aspects of their games. This is seen in D&D 5th Ed's embracing of the three pillars of adventure which bring the focus to exploration and social interaction. In games like Legend of the Five Rings, which always had a stronger focus on narrative and drama if in the suggestions for how to run if not mechanics, developers are bringing in gameplay mechanics like composure, where by a simple mechanic in the game a character is forced to either bring their emotions into play, or suffer a significant mechanical penalty.

Today, I want to talk about that.

Discussion: How Often Do You Fudge?

On Wednesday I waxed philosophical about how dice vs. story is a big part of running games, and about how sometimes you either have to fudge dice to build tension and drama in a story or accept that your stories will have an unsatisfying end.

Today I'm curious just how often, and in what ways, do you fudge your game?

As a GM I am guilty of this. I don't do it in every game. If we say we're going by the book, I run by the book and that means the dice lay as they lay for good or for ill. However, if we're going for story - or we're deep into a story - I have fudged the dice. Not to alter the big picture outcome of an event, but to make sure it hits the high note.

The most egregious of these I've done is I have, at times, kept an NPC alive in combat longer than they should have - by maybe about a round - because it didn't feel right if the kill went to a particular PC. I've done this all of one times, I balanced it by not even rolling for the NPC on their turn - they'd technically already died, I was just giving credit to someone else for story purposes.

Beyond this though, and while I agree that the dice can ruin stories, the times when everything is played straight and the story still happens can just feell so much better, and I love that. Because of it I'm more and more prone to just letting the dice lay as they may and finding ways to make that satisfying rather than rip away the ultimate feeling of a victory that came not just because of the planning and preparation of the PCs, but because random chance - or fate - was also on their side.

That said, I am guilty of fudging when rolls are called for. If there is something I need to happen, or want to happen for the story - even if by the book it should be a roll - I'll just give it to the players, or have it never available to them depending on how it needs to go.

But what about you?

Story vs. The Dice

I was listening to the Matt Coleville video about fudging dice rolls, and something he said got me to thinking. During the video, Matt posits that RPGs like D&D aren't story telling games - though you can tell stories in them - because it involves dice rolls. The idea is that the dice are random, which is different than fate. His argument boils down to we use dice because we're not story tellers, but game masters and it's our job to run the game. He then further says that we fudge dice rolls because we are story tellers, and it's our job to create drama. Today I want to talk about that a bit.

Campaign Binders

Over the course of a campaign, there can be a lot of information you need to keep track of. Any named NPC could come back at any time, from either the GM or the PCs. I can't tell you how many times I've had PCs randomly remember someone they helped, or that helped them, over a year ago in real life and want to go back and talk to them. The same can be true for locations, and many other things.

To prepare for this, many GMs use various means of organizing the information. Online works well, but even then I find I prefer a physical binder. It's easier to flip through a binder at the table than go searching through my G-Drive or some other online cloud service.

Lately I've been meaning to re-organize my binder. I am thinking of the following sections, and am posting it here because it might be of use to others. Also, maybe someone will have a crazy good idea that I need to hear and will share it in the comments.

PC Section
I like having a place, at the front of the binder, to keep the PC's character sheets. This keeps the sheets with the game and means that as long as I remember to bring the binders, everyone will have their character sheet. It also lets me review characters during preparation. It's no good making a situation hinge on a particular set of skills or spells if no one has them - even if I think they're obvious good choices. Finally, I can also use this section to keep cheat sheets for magic items and other custom stuff.

Locations
In my current binder this section is called 'Maps' but I want to change it. I want to change it because I often need more information than just a map. Maps are great, they give you a visual, but written information makes the map more. I can have a map of a city, or I can have a map and a write up for the city. This puts context to the picture and explains what I'm looking at.

A location section should also have sub-sections for any major locations. A grouping of maps and write ups for a big city, while another place may only have one map and a few scribbled notes on things.

The beauty of this is it can be as detailed or not as needed. If I have an area well planned out, I can have computer generated maps and typed up write ups. On the other hand, if the PCs end up in a village that I have to make up on the fly, and all I have is a quick hand sketch map for the general shape of the village and a couple hand written notes about what the PCs did there, that can be put into the section and developed later, or just kept as is in case the PCs need to go back.

Previous Sessions' Notes
A place for notes from the past several sessions is always useful. This lets you flip back if something needs to be referenced or if you just need a reminder for what is going on. I'd recommend keeping at least all the information for the current arc in this section, but the previous arc may also be good. Obviously, once older than that these notes can be kept elsewhere (or summarized and disposed of.) But it's always good to have a record of the last few sessions. Even if just to help prepare the next few.

Blank Lined/Graphing paper
You have to take notes on something, and graphing paper can double for quick maps in a pinch. Enough said?

Used Monsters
In D&D the Monster Manual can be a royal PITA to juggle when you have an encounter with several monster types. Even worse if one monster is in the default Monster Manual, one is in Volo's Guide, and the others are in Mordekainen's. I do have the Deck of Many Monsters box sets from Deck of Many, but they don't have everything covered. So often I'll end up with print outs of sheets from the book, or of Copy and Pastes of the stat blocks. These are handy to keep track of because monsters can be reused - sometimes reskinned but same stats - and why print it out again and again?

NPC List
I like to keep master lists of NPCs. I normally do these in Google Sheets because it lets me have a master list, a list for each PC, and a list for other big items in the game all derived from that master list (spreadsheets are magic, you can't convince me otherwise.) At the very least I like to track

• Name
• Race
• Sex
• Job
• Location
• Affiliation
• Friendly/Hostile
• Notes

Notes gives me a place to write any quirks or other specific things (i.e. if a PC owes them money or something). Having this information easily at hand can be a life saver for finding who that NPC was that time in that place. At present I have near 100 tracked named NPCs for one of my D&D games. The other has a lot less but it's been running for a lot less time, and well, I've killed a lot of NPCs in that game.

Having some variant of this - or at least notes for major/plot worthy NPCs in the binder is also good. For the Queen of a close country I have a whole page write up on her and her personality. I reference it often, and she has come up a lot in the last few arcs, so it's been good to have it in hand.

What Else?

Discussion: Do You Use Holidays In Your Game?

One aspect of World Building I feel I've been bad on is holidays. Holidays are common and popular. They can be local, regional, or even global depending on what is going on. We have examples of those in our own world too. Massachusetts is one of the few states to celebrate Patriots' Day in the United States. The U.S. and Canada are two of the only countries with Thanksgiving - albeit on different days of different months. Finally, holidays like Christmas and Easter are near global due to the wide spread nature of the Christian religions, and backed up further by the Hallmark Holiday status.

But what about in your fantasy universe? Royal birthdays, commemorations of important events, days celebrating specific aspects of gods or events in mythology. These all make great ideas and uses for holidays. Furthermore, holidays can help give a good sense of character to a location with not only what it celebrates, but how the holiday is celebrated.

So do you use them in your game? Any good examples of holidays that have gone particularly well?

In Game Racism

Many RPGs, particularly fantasy and sci-fi games have multiple races for characters to be, and some of those races have racial prejudices built in. This leaves the games open for having issues that are drawn along race relations come into the game. How you handle that depends on your table, but it's worth bringing up. Today I want to talk about that.

The Abandoned House Adventure

On Friday I talked about my favorite setup for the spooky adventure. Today I want to talk about how I set up that adventure, and how it has worked out well for me in the past. Consider it a suggestion on prepping a session or multi-session arc for a game, especially if looking to do something spooky.

Discussion: Favorite Setup for a Spooky Adventure

It being October, Halloween is mysteriously on the mind. October tends to be the month that cinemas fill with horror movies, scary books come out, and well, ghost stories are on the mind. I know multiple GMs like to go a little extra with spooky themed adventures and on.eshots. So today I want to ask, what is your favorite setup for a spooky adventure?

Do you like ghost stories? Haunted houses? Headless horsemen? What have you used? What do you want to use?

My personal favorite, and probably the easiest to run, is the empty house. It doesn't have to be a house, it can be a starship or anything. The point is that whatever it is is void of people, and the mystery of where they went is the adventure. The lack of anything going on, nobody around, and scattered hints to what might have happened can just naturally ramp up tension and the spookiness factor.

I've had players jump in their seats because someone elsewhere in the house left and tension was that high. It can be a lot of fun.

The hard part of course is you need a pay off, and that can make or break the session. But as long as you know the cause of the mystery having an even break isn't super hard to get.

What about you?

Death Penalties

What happens when a PC dies in your game? Does the player get to bring in a new character? If so, does the new character come in at equal level as the one that was lost? Slightly lower level? Weaker relative to the rest of the party? Or start fresh at level one? Different games have different ways of handling it. Today I want to talk about some popular methods, the idea behind them, and why you might not want to employ any of them.

AMBUSH!

Ambushes are something that always make me more than a little nervous when it comes to GMing. I don't mind when the PCs set up a good ambush. If they do it right, they should reap the rewards. However, if NPCs are ambushing PCs, I get very nervous. An ambush is a huge force modifier. If that first round goes well, you might not have a PC left on the board. Or you could have just enough that it will be rounds of struggle and feeling powerless before the fight is over. Today I want to talk about it, some ways to mitigate it, and some things to check for.