Can I Interest You in Some Zombies?

EPISODE 15: BND015 – Down In the Mines

The DM guide estimates that characters will advance after approximately 8 encounters per level. It does mention that this would count completion of a quest as an encounter, skills challenges of course as encounters and traps as encounters. This sounds fair, it sounds do-able and in practice it will probably turn out to be correct. But my problem is that I immediately begin mapping out encounter after encounter moving the characters on their way towards next leveldom. At least this is how I started out.

a slice of the mines, with zombies and rats galore

The story develops as the players attach themselves to whatever attracts them the most, and as that gets more defined some of the circumstances become inevitabilities. There are pieces of information that need to be revealed in order for the story to progress, and how they are revealed is the essence of the game. So far it has been mostly me deciding how these plot points are to be revealed. I finally started bringing in a few of the elements that 2 of my players had provided for me as background to their characters. I’m making a concerted effort to develop those details into plot driving instances within the game. (Unfortunately it won’t be for another couple of episodes.) Right now, we are headed into a mine, which I felt compelled to develop in order to 1) expose certain elements of the story and 2) get the PC’s more xp so they can advance. If you are an experienced DM then you may be saying to yourself “dude, you’re making this way too complicated.” And I am. Or I was. Lucky for me, I’ve got a podcast where I can listen to how the game goes, share it with others and get some feedback on ways to improve my DM skillz.

 

So, if you’ve listened to all the episodes up to this point, you will know that they are attempting to rescue some children that they believe to have been kidnapped for some unknown reason. They are dealing with quite a few people and the plot extends beyond just the kidnapping. Apparently, some of the “bad guys” are infected with some sort of parasite that may or may not have mind controlling powers. My DM conundrum at this point was in how do I reveal more plot points to keep the story moving and hopefully keep the pc’s interest.

 

I know that there will be times when the pcs will need a gentle nudge in the proper direction and I am unafraid to provide that nudge. But there were a couple of sessions- the previous one, this one and the following (probably going to encompass at least 5 maybe 6 episodes) where I felt a bit dirty afterward. I felt like I was the DM that made the PCs do what I wanted them to do in order to keep the story going. There was very little in it that had to do with what the PCs had chosen to create for themselves. It got to a point that I knew what was happening and I didn’t want to force them into anything so even though I had an encounter all planned out and they were right on the cusp of busting it wide open I had to let it go (*see Keep Calm and Be Prepared). I found a spot later on where I could use the map (that I had lovingly put a couple of hours into creating on Roll20), and the fight was enjoyed by all.

Let the Dice Tell the Story

EPISODE 14 LISTEN NOW:BND014 – Rolling the Bones

After the way-too-long encounter, I continued to put my campaign together piece-meal, stringing together encounter after encounter. I think I got into that habit mostly from enthusiasm overload. We would play every two weeks and there was a lot of time in between sessions for my head to spin, and the only outlet was to envision the most likely direction the party might go. Roll20, an excellent virtual table top gaming tool, provided me with an outlet for my imaginations. I searched for monsters and found reasons to put them in the PC’s path. I know, this is not the way to go.

I have learned that the story will reveal itself. No matter how many times I hear other GM’s say it or read it on my favorite RPG blogs, the game is not all about me.

So, this is my lesson, as a returning DM, let the game play itself. I can create the world without having to tell the story. It is difficult to let go of this aspect of world-creation, the writer inside wants the final word. But the best part of playing an RPG is not knowing what is going to happen. The most obvious example of this- polyhedrals. PC’s love to roll dice, and not just in combat, anytime anywhere for anything. You want to see if that surly half-orc at the bar really believes you got that blood stained scale armor (that looks a lot like his cousins) from the blacksmith up the street- roll for it.

Your DnD4e Wears Combat Boots

I have heard the criticism that 4e is too focused on combat, or that there is too much emphasis placed on combat, and I would agree with that. But, I would also say that that does not need to take away from how one plays the game. While the combat rules may be much more involved there is always the option to be selective in how you use the rules. I am not familiar with any other grid based combat systems so I can’t speak to the quality of play that the 4e rules allow, but I am finding that it is a bit cumbersome. At first, I was intrigued and excited about combat, but the novelty has worn off a bit. I think I over-indulged and am ready for some good old-fashioned theater of the mind role-playing. This doesn’t mean I need to scrap the whole system, I believe 4e is still a perfectly viable RPG.

 

The problem I’m having with the 4e combat system is entirely in my head. I’m over-thinking how the combat is going to unfold. The 4e system puts forward so many “suggestions” on how to compose an encounter that I’m thinking way to hard about how each of the combatants is going to react and it’s taking me out of the spontaneity (and excitement) of D&D combat. There are so many “conditions” that can effect the combatants that it almost always takes me out of the story. I have been suffering from encounter to encounter gaming- the how and why is sidelined for combat. The hard part about it all is that I would really like to see the combat aspect work well. I think it is an interesting part of 4e, and if done right could be a challenging game within the game.

I would like to pit my grid combat skills against the players- of course, this isn’t how D&D works, at least from my point of view. It is not a game of DM vs. PCs. But this is a discussion for another post.

BND011 – Your DnD4e Wears Combat Boots