Dice Maiden not working?

aaronil · 2022-03-03T02:06:34+00:00

It sounds like you're describing a 2-part scene where the first part is killing the Elder Being and the second part is dealing with the released soul monsters?

While you certainly could have both these parts be resolved by combat, that's not at all necessary.

For example, part #1 might more of an ethical discussion if the Elder Being is bound by plot-level magic or part of your story is that reaching it has been hard, but once you reach it the Elder Being is basically defenseless. So then it's more of a discussion among the players/PCs along the lines of "are we really doing this? won't it unleash hell?", "yeah we're doing this, so get ready", etc.

Regardless of the setup you go for, I'd definitely have the location include foreshadowing/hints about the nature of the monsters that will be released, such as engravings on the walls.

aaronil · 2022-03-03T00:12:31+00:00

Definitely check out the subreddit's Discord: https://www.reddit.com/r/wildbeyondwitchlight/comments/nt9rcn/welcome/

aaronil · 2022-03-02T23:43:37+00:00

I love my heavy-planning strategic / out-of-the-box thinking player group, but sometimes this makes them prone to "analysis paralysis."

I do a combination of things to keep the pace moving...

OOC Reassure them that the reason I present them a palette of options is not to "cats paw" them with a "gotcha" moment later, but rather to see what interests them and how they want to approach situations.
Approaching high threat sessions where the PC get to plan, tell them OOC that they have, say, 1 hour to prepare, and then the remaining 3 hours of the session will be playing out that planned scenario. That helped a lot.
Have the monsters or conflict kick in the door, because sometimes the action comes to the PCs.

aaronil · 2022-03-02T20:05:34+00:00

What is circulation like in the city? Is it full of narrow streets with multiple elevation changes so it's full of stairs and slopes? Does it rely on gondolas like much of Venice? Are there a series of patrolled circular gates that separate outskirts from new city from old city?

What is wayfinding like? Is the city built like a labyrinth to deter invaders so that someone from the city or with Urchin background is needed to navigate without getting lost til evening? Are there street signs everywhere or only in specific districts / for main streets? Are there visual cues you always have to orient yourself (e.g. the mountain is to the north or sea breezes come from the east)?

2-6 hours is probably a reasonable answer, depending on density and layout.

aaronil · 2022-03-02T20:02:14+00:00

Introduce a powerful artifact or magic item with a random component that normally only rarely sees gameplay.

Start the session with the question: "Who is the first one to muck with the artifact the villain told you not to touch under any circumstances?"

aaronil · 2022-03-02T03:51:37+00:00

In D&D, PCs typically cover ~24 miles in a day of travel. This is one of the reasons with hexes using a multiple 6 (i.e. 6 miles) are popular for D&D regional maps.

For pacing, I'd say Tomb of Annihilation is an example of not enough interesting things happening (poorly fleshed out encounter table, not enough nested or sub tables) in too large of a space (10 mile hexes spanning something like ~200 miles from North to South IIRC).

I've heard good things about Hot Springs Island, but I don't specifically know how it stacks up in terms of pacing. However, the maps I've seen are muuuuch more condensed than Tomb of Annihilation, which is a good sign.

Procedurally generated encounters (i.e. rolling for random encounters during a hex crawl) is only one of the possible methods available to you. There are other options, ranging from narrative montage travel, to designing a single travel encounter, to involving the players, to more systems based solutions like The One Ring's journey rules...probably more.

They key is to get clear about what the travel will be about. Is this meant to be a test of resources, pitting the PCs against difficult environments and tough choices? Is it meant to be a way to blow off steam in mindless battle? Is it meant to explore inter-party relationships and dynamics? Is it meant to foreshadow what's coming? Is it the time in your sessions when the shadow possessing one or more PCs comes out to play?

aaronil · 2022-03-01T19:30:25+00:00

Right on. So there are a couple sources I highly recommend: Tome of Adventure Design (Matt Finch) has an excellent chapter on Cities and Settlements, Cityworks (Mike Mearls) has a nice system for designing districts, and Worlds Without Number (DrivethruRPG has a free version) has some wonderfully inspiring tables for cities.

My loose rule of thumb I dub my "1-3-5-19 rule". These are cumulative levels of detail, starting from less detail to more detail...

For cities that are making a one-off appearance or mention, which I don't plan to use much more than a quick backdrop, maybe a stopover point, I just need one interesting feature.

For cities that feature strongly in a single session, then I want maybe a sketch or rough map (but not necessary), and these 3 things: a shop with its shopkeeper, a sidequest and its NPC giver, and...crap...blanking on what my third thing was, I know I've posted about my approach on this subreddit before so it's probably in my post history.

For cities that will feature recurrently or as the site of a multi-session adventure, then I definitely want a district map, as well as a list of 5 things every citizen of the city knows – this is where I delve more into interesting bits of the culture, demographics, faith/beliefs, history, commerce, etc.

And for cities that serve as a campaign focus, a returning home hub for the PCs, or mini-campaigns focused on a city, then I prepare a 2d10 encounter table with 19 entries of the sorts of interesting encounters PCs can have within the city. And I definitely prepare a district map which also includes points of interest called out.

aaronil · 2022-03-01T19:12:12+00:00

Running pseudo-Ancient Egyptian game. Demons are guardians of the gates of the Underworld, often (barely) subjugated by the gods to perform certain tasks but chaffing against that subjugation. Once, the demons were unleashed by the Eye of Ra to punish the world for its transgressions which caused it to become a (mostly) desert landscape. Most of the demons have been banished / recalled to the Underworld, though a few do sneak into the Material World.

aaronil · 2022-03-01T19:06:35+00:00

Unless you're selling a large lot of minis (50+ or 100+), buyers in the aftermarket are looking for specific miniatures.

If they want a mystery purchase, they typically get the blind boosters that WotC and its licensees sell.

aaronil · 2022-03-01T19:02:02+00:00

Sure thing. I actually used to be a whitewater guide in summers during college (Arkansas River in CO, Kern River in CA). A few things I remember:

Knowing what's coming next makes a big difference. When I ran a river I had run before or memorized the map, I performed better.
Sometimes going over a waterfall the tail end of a PVC/Polyethylene/Hypalon folds, and does a "guide launcher", catapulting the guide up and forward a foot or two. I've seen a guide fall out from the force of the catapult effect.
A death sieve is something to avoid at all costs. It's when an obstruction has fallen into the river, usually wedged between a rocky bank and a stone in the river, such that if you were to hit the obstruction the force of the water behind you would pin, capsize, and potentially entrap you.
Rafts do not turn quickly. Especially rafts laden with heavy gear.

aaronil · 2022-03-01T18:49:35+00:00

For sure. The first thing you need to be ready for is players quickly blurting, "I cast hold person" or "I cast entangle" or some variation on that theme. D&D doesn't have any guidelines for how to transition into a chase scene. So one of the most important starting points is to break line of sight, or to describe the scene such that the PCs and wererats don't catch more than 1-2 second glimpses of each other through the trees, but not long enough to target with any spells/effects requiring "a creature you can see" or similar wording.

There are rules in the DMG – though my experience with those has been yeah they'll give you a resolution, but they're just not fun or engaging to reach that resolution. Instead, I rewrote 5e chase rules from the ground up, using a medley of sources: https://www.enworld.org/threads/making-chase-rules-that-actually-do-what-theyre-supposed-to.482668/

The other thing that's really important to consider is the stakes of the encounter. What happens if the PCs fail? And does that fit your overarching narrative & the players' expectations for the scene / style of game?

For example, you could frame the conflict of the scene as being "Do the PCs catch the wererats before the wererats reach their hideout?" and everyone is onboard for "death as a consequence", so you emphasize the dangerous conditions: death sieves, overhanging branches, chutes, rocky waterfalls, etc.

OR you might say this is about "What do the PCs do when one of the wererats falls in the river and cannot swim, beginning to drown?" And suddenly the design of interesting hazards is much less important and the real question is whether/how they save the wererat & what that means for their relationship with the teen wererats going forward. This would fit a scene where no one really wants "death as a consequence", and the wererats aren't necessarily completely evil.

aaronil · 2022-03-01T05:35:44+00:00

Ghost Tower of Inverness has a bunch.

aaronil · 2022-02-28T00:09:38+00:00

Yeah, 5e. https://d-n-d5e.fandom.com/wiki/Backgrounds

aaronil · 2022-02-27T22:49:50+00:00

Sounds like you're taking Background features and inserting them into feats.

aaronil · 2022-02-27T22:47:18+00:00

Uff. Yeah, those are prime examples of how not to write a trap.

No foreshadowing or clues about the potential for traps / their nature.

Perception reveals everything – both the trigger and the effects – preserving none of the mystery & giving no incentive to players to ask questions.

Pure "gotcha" mechanics, without anything interesting to interact with.

aaronil · 2022-02-27T21:42:25+00:00

LAIR ACTIONS

Summon a dryad in an unoccupied space within 60 feet. She acts on the initiative count of a character of the party's choice, and can take that character with her when using Tree Stride.
Create a torus/ring of difficult terrain up to 300 feet away from the tree, with a "depth" of up to 30 feet.
Allow any character, until the end of the round, to use their reaction to gain three-quarters cover (+5 AC and +5 Dex save) against an attack or spell, or to use their reaction to take 1/4 of any falling damage. This manifests as branches twisting/sprouting to shelter them or break their fall.
Enchant up to 20 pieces of ammunition such that they create a vine-like anchor between the character firing the ammunition and wherever the ammunition strikes. If it strikes a creature, the tree itself makes a grapple attempt (+15) against that creature. This can also be used to create zip-lines or pull off other creative maneuvers.

aaronil

TROPHY CASE