Category: RPGs

The bare essentials for 4E?

So during my holiday I ran into a person that was interested in 4E, but was put off by the number of books available. I can totally understand. If you browse the available books there is a ton of material from WotC, and it looks like things will keep being released well through 2010, some being relatively core-related (like MM3 and PHB3). There is a lot out there, so if folks were on a budget and interested in taking the plunge into 4E, where would they start?

Core essential buys – No surprise saying the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual would be a solid first buy. Along with some dice you have just about everything you need to play. I’d even consider fudging the whole battle map and just run a game with token minis on a table.

Solid buys – I’d add the PHB2 to the list on the next book to buy. I think with those 4 books, players have a ton of options to make up characters. I feel the PHB is a little limited in choices and sorely needed a few more races and classes to choose from (something I can agree with 4E naysayers).

The Adventurer’s Vault is another book I’d consider picking up. In those pages are more equipment, rules on vehicles and mounts, and tons of new magic items. It also provides rules for alchemical items. I think potions and such were something sorely missing in the core rules. AV has a lot of options for a DM, and also can serve as plenty of examples if a DM wanted to home-brew an item (much more so that the limited selection in the PHB).

Good things to pick up later – Monster Manual 2 is something I’d look into buying next. It’s great to have more bad guys at the DM’s fingertips. I think between those 2 books, a DM can have a lot of material on hand to craft up some fun dungeons. Not necessary, but a good buy.

I’d add the DMG2 to that list also. Again, it’s not necessary, but there is a lot of good information in the book that just about every DM can gleam something from. I’d consider this a low priority buy, but worthwhile if the cash was available.

I’d put AV2 also in this stack. Again, the second Adventurer’s Vault is just a reference for more magic items. I think if you had a group of players helming characters from PHB2, they might appreciate some of the new magic items in this book. By all means I think this is a very optional buy, but a good one to pick up sometime.

Stuff not to bother with – Everything else. Yup, I think just about all the other books are optional or so campaign specific, there is no real need to pick up any of them. I can see the power source books (Martial Power, Divine Power, Arcane Power, etc.) as fair buys if you had players totally bored with the options in the PBH(s). Everything else I see as fluff material or campaign specific books.

Granted if you really enjoyed Eberron, you’d likely want to pick up the books. But if your group is not running that campaign there is no real sense in buying them. The same could be said for the Manual of the Planes. I think Open Grave and the Dragonomicon are also very campaign specific. Yeah, it might be useful to buy if your campaign was dealing heavily in these topics, but for the most part I would not bother.

So those are my choices. Four to five books I think could hold you over for your entire D&D career. Maybe you’d want to pick up 1 or 2 more. And if you really wanted to jump into a campaign setting, possibly 1-2 additional books. I think trying out 4E is a lot less daunting than what is currently available. I’d be interested to see what else folks would consider necessary buys (or things to drop all together).

Splitting treasure parcel 8 and rewarding parcel 10

I could talk a lot about the treasure parcel system for 4E (and likely will do just that in later posts). For the most part, I like the idea of the parcel system. I like that DMs are given a general yardstick every level on how much treasure a party should get.

Somethings fall a little flat. I really miss having random treasure tables. There is a random treasure generator for 4ED, I’ve used in the past that is pretty nifty. It’s too bad that WotC has not provided something similar with DDI, I certainly hope so.

Another problem I have is that the treasure parcel system is a little too structured at times. You’ve got 10 little piles of loot to spread out over a series of adventures. Recommendations are given to combine a few, and leave a few encounters with nothing at all. Not bad suggestions, but I’d like the flexibility of handing out some treasure when I want too, without worrying about dipping too far into the remaining parcels. All the while, I don’t want to be throwing too much coin my player’s way (or short-changing them). So there are some quick and dirty rules I’ve used with treasure parcels.

Rewarding parcel 10 – I see parcel 10 as optional. I like to use that parcel as a guideline for any monetary quest rewards. Depending on the adventure, if I think my group need a little more economic incentive for tackling a quest, I throw in some gold pieces equivalent to parcel 10.

Usually, I drop this parcel from encounters if the group is handling an adventure that would have this as a reward. Typically, I’m giving a little extra coin throughout a series of adventures on route to that next level. As long as each ‘reward’ is up to the gold value of parcel 10, I don’t worry about handing a few extra out. WotC recommends freely using parcels as quest rewards, but I typically like having the big stuff for the players to find directly.

Splitting up parcel 8 – I also like to split parcel 8 up three ways as additional treasure parcels (8A, 8B, and 8C). I use these parcels for small booty rewards. If I ever run a small random encounter where I think a little coin would be appropriate, I use one of these parcels. Say the group runs across some gnoll slavers. I would expect that they would carry some treasure, but likely not be hauling around some fantastic magical weapon. In that case, I’d add some coin from one of my newly split parcel 8s.

As things progress towards the end of the level, if I’m a little short on opportunities to hand out the remaining parcels, I tack on the remaining hordes from parcel 8. I really like doing this as I can give out a bit gold coin if I want to, and still keep within the guidelines of the parcel system.

So treasure parcels. Love em? Hate em? What tweaking have you done in using them?

The short (and lengthy) campaign

This is a second part on some thoughts about running long and short campaigns. I enjoy longer campaigns, but sometimes it can be difficult to run. I’d like to continue with some things I like, and dislike, with DMing shorter campaigns.

The short campaign – I think the biggest advantage about this type of campaign is you can have a tight, focused, set of adventures that can tell a concise story. I think players can enjoy this as there is a definitive end to the arc. Also, there is less pressure for jumping into a game, as they know in 2-4 months it will be over (perfect for those folks off on summer holidays).

Another big advantage of having a short campaign is the ability to keep things fresh. Players have opportunities to play a myriad of different characters. DMs can experiment with wild settings and lessen the chance of running out of ideas. You can have a lot of variety, and even switch off playing other RPGs. I really think this diversity can keep the interest of players engaged and elevated.

I also think it can open up a lot of unique roleplaying situations. DMs can introduce elements of inter-party conflict, with players having secret agendas and possibly have alignment switches. With the right players, having a person suddenly turn on the group, can make for a memorable campaign. Since everything is short term, this allows players to go all out with these types of dilemmas. In a long campaign, with a great degree of continuity, something like this is nearly impossible to run (unless you have people dropping out of the group).

The counter to short campaigns is that players may not be personally invested in their character. They might have a more flippant attitude towards quests and adventures, as they know in a few weeks, things will effectively reboot. I also think that most players create a character that won’t change much throughout the campaign. Yes, they can gain equipment, treasure, and powers through advancement, but their drive and motivations will likely not change much. At the end of the campaign that one paragraph bio might get a sentence or two more added to it, but that is about it. There isn’t much room for development beyond that.

Also, the adventures you run might drift into mundane quests. Instead of having an epic tale where the very world is threatened, you might be typically running games through a series of dungeon delves. I think the possibility is there to run an engaging story in a short campaign, but the scale will likely pale on comparison to a longer campaign. Additionally, you are effectively on a deadline. You have to wrap things up in a few months, so players might feel they are running through hoops, traveling from one scene to another. It depends on the group, but some might want time to explore and wander a little more in the world, rather than head off to the ‘next quest’ of the campaign arc.

I’m torn a little about what I’ll do in a few months. I’m enjoying a longer campaign (as is my group), but I’m feeling the draw to running something more concise and shorter. I’d love to heard what most folks run and their experiences with past campaigns.

The lengthy (and short) campaign

I’ve been running my campaign for a few months now. I’ve always been a big fan of the long, epic campaign. However the reality of life encroaches a lot in my group. Being in Korea, most people I know having some interest in D&D are here temporarily. Usually after a year, they are off somewhere else as they change jobs.

I’ve been lucky having a few people staying around for a while, but already I’ve had some attrition in my group due to people moving on. This makes running a lengthy campaign, even if just for 6-8 months, problematic. I’ve toyed with wrapping things up and trying to get smaller arcs run, but the group I currently have really is enjoying the longer storyline.

Still, I’m considering pushing for a conclusion in a few sessions, and might try to run future campaigns with a definitive end that can be reached in a few months. I recently also managed to play in a 3.5 campaign that was enjoyable, but it petered out after a few months and never wrapped up in any form of conclusion. I’m hoping I can avoid this. I guess time will tell depending on the group’s wishes.

With that conundrum, I think each type of campaign provides some advantages and solid points. However, I am still on the fence as to how I’ll keep my campaign running.

The long campaign – One big draw to this type of campaign is that it can be truly epic. You have the time and breadth to allow characters to grow and change. As a DM, you can craft a huge, involved storyline. Even with a string of shorter stories, taken together it leaves an intricate tale in its wake. I think many players look back on these experiences fondly, as they can say they were part of a huge story.

An interesting point with these types of campaigns is the shift away from the initial background defining a character, and more their experiences as they play the game which molds what they are. Sure you might have some central idea of your character’s past, but it eventually gets pushed to the backseat in a long campaign. It’s the actions and events of the game that becomes the largest influence on a character.

The downsides of a long campaign are many. I think the biggest problem is player/DM burnout. Keeping things fresh and exciting is a challenge. Folks may very well get a little bored and want to try something different. All of which makes for a campaign that never really ends, and just sort of crawls to a stop, leaving a lot of dangling plot lines.

Keeping the group together is also another major hurdle. Real life can intervene for some people and cause them to drop out. Sometimes this can work, as 1-2 people taking a break from the game with a decent sized group is not much of a loss. As the game is still running, they can always jump back in after a few months. However, getting players back into the groove of the current party lineup (and caught up with all the drama of past events) can be a problem within itself.

Still running an epic storyline can be enticing. I think players can have dynamic experiences allowing their characters to grow and flesh out organically. These types of campaigns allow for convoluted arcs and tons of interesting encounters, NPCs, and events that can make for memorable sessions.

I’ll be sure to post some good (and bad) points about shorter campaigns in a bit.

Magical bard implements

I really feel bards get a little shafted with musical implements. The big problem for me is that many bard rituals require a focus of a particular GP value. However the choices are rather limited. As I noted before talking about AV2, additional magical instruments were lacking. There are a few weapons that can act as implements, but some different instruments and/or wondrous items would have been nice in that book.

So I started mulling over some ideas to expand the number of items that could also serve as a focus for bard rituals. Rather than create a specific item, I thought about having magical properties in the components which an instrument is constructed from. Drums, lutes, lyres, even horns could have portions of the instrument made of magical wood, or special bone inlayed keys, all of which that impart some magical property. So players have some flexibility in obtaining a magical instrument of their choice (with a DM is willing to drop it in an appropriate treasure parcel) rather than having to work with the limited choices in PHB2.

So I below I have a few components that could be used to make magical instruments of a player’s choice. They might not even be provided as an actual instrument, but a portion of arcane wood that could be used by a craftsman to create one (which could be RPed out in a special session or a reward for a short quest). I hope some folks get some mileage out of these items.

 

 

Planning sessions with Masterplan

I’m a luddite. I’ve tried using a lot of online resources while playing my game. I’ve tried having initiative trackers, pulling things up on the compendium and other applications all to no avail. I just can’t seem to shake old habits, but I’ve tried to change. Running my games, I just like having things at my fingertips and being able to scribble little notes on my session plans when I need to. Planning my games is different however and I really embrace using a lot of online tools.

I’ve been tinkering a little with Masterplan and been enjoying it quite a lot. They’ve incorporated some new features and I really think I’m going to have to invest a little more time in this program. It’s amazing.

Masterplan is a program that helps with session planning. It allows you to sketch out plots as a flow chart, annotated with notes and text. It includes options to create encounters and skill challenges. It even allows annotating maps (or building maps with tile sets). I’ve yet to really dig into the nuts and bolts of the program but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far.

One particular feature I really like is the encounter builder. Just fiddle with the drop down fields for your experience budget, and you can draw up a list of potential baddies to create your encounter. The most recent version allows users to import creatures and items from the DDI compendium. In previous versions, you have to export selected items from the compendium yourself. This was a little tedious before (but useful once your library was created). Now importing things directly to your Masterplan library is a snap.

Want to create a map on the fly? Plenty of tools for drag and dropping tiles to make a custom map. There is even a yahoo group where you can export sets of tiles to fill out your library. I’ve dabbled with this a little and the initial prognosis is awesome.

Hopefully over the upcoming holidays I’ll have more time to play with this. I really want to push, pull, and prod this program to see what it can do. Offhand, this looks like a neat tool to make things up on the fly. I’m hoping I can get comfortable enough with this program, so that if my players go off the map, I can completely improvise a few encounters. Just ask them to take a 10 minute break while I whip up 3-4 encounters, complete with a map, traps and treasure. I completely see this as a possibility with this application.

If folks have delved deep into this program, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

EDIT: Oh, and if you want a brief walk through of Masterplan, there’s a YouTube video of some of the features in action.

Random initiative using cards

So with the greater tactical encounters my players are fighting, one thing that has been creeping in is the locked turn order. Everybody goes in the same order, round after round. At worse, if you blow a roll, you’re stuck going last the entire combat. Granted, for some groups, they might want this for tactical planning with their teammates (shifting for combat advantage or maneuvering targets for a blast spell). But my players wanted something a little more chaotic, so I thought of some alternatives.

We could roll initiative each round, but I dumped that idea as it would slow down combats. An alternative would be to have everyone roll 3-4 initiatives all at once. Each player calls out an initiative they want to use from their list. Every 3 rounds, I ask for a new turn order and write down what initiative the players call out. A little more paperwork, but it does throw in some randomization.

Still I was not too happy with that idea. I wanted something that was:

  • Easy to run – It didn’t require a lot of record keeping and could keep things moving. Plus if I needed to hold up the action to work out some mechanic, I could jump right back into the turn order without a hitch.
  • Simple to explain – If I needed another set of clunky rules to run the initiative, no sense in bothering.
  • Reward high initiatives – If a player got a high roll, or invested into feats and powers to gain a higher than normal initiative, they should get some benefit.
  • Random – I wanted a turn order that would be mixed up from turn to turn.

I settled on using initiate cards. Each of my players are assigned a card from one suit. I do the same for the monsters they fight (using another suit). Typically each type of creature gets a card, but I’ve broken larger minion groups up into 2 if needed. The key point is to have at least 1-2 monster cards less than the player cards.

I have players roll initiative, and do the same for my creatures. If players, or monsters, roll a 20 or higher (25 or higher for paragon tier, and 30 or higher for epic tier), I make a note regarding their card.

After shuffling the deck, I set aside the top half. Going through the bottom half, I note any player cards that rolled a high initiative (greater than 20). If so, I move it up one card in the deck order.

I then do the same for any monsters, with one exception. If a player card is on top of the lower part of the deck, it remains there (players trump monsters in turn order for this case).

I return the top half to the top of the deck, turn over a card and play out the turn. Next turn, shuffle, and repeat the process.

Things are random from turn to turn. If a player rolls a high initiative, there is no guarantee they will go first. However they can guarantee they will not go last (and likely be in the middle of the group for that turn).

My players have been loving this do far. I’m still thinking of tweaking the rules a bit. Say giving a player with a phenomenally good initiative one opportunity to jump to the top of the deck once per encounter. Or if players hold an action, move them down one card order the next turn (to impose a small penalty for going out of order).

On that last point I’ll say one thing my players have done a lot. I’ve been seeing players hold actions and waiting to run coordinated attacks, far more than with my regular games. It’s far from perfect, but my group has gotten a lot of enjoyment out of shaking up the typical encounter initiative. So if people have been adding a little randomized initiative in their games, what have you folks been doing?

Expeditions of Amazing Adventure: The cavernous archives of the Coreldor arcane library

One of the marvels of the great city Coreldor is that it hosts the largest collection of books and documents of the western Empire. Operated by the mighty arcane guild within Coreldor, this huge stone building lies atop a bluff overlooking the city. The library hosts not only arcane books and ancient rituals, but also various historical documents and maps. It serves as a vast repository of knowledge, whether being map fragments of the lost Alondarra continent, a listing of intricate clan relations of the Kormerrian barbarians, to the unusual customs of Istrian Pict tribes.

Strict rules govern use of the library holdings and the arcane guild holds control with a tight fist. Automated constructs not only wander the rows of books to aid visitors, but larger automatons can occasionally be seen precariously clambering up spiral staircases, patrolling the various floors of the library for thieves. Magical wards also protect books from being removed from the library grounds.

Knowledge from the library holdings can be freely transcribed, but at a hefty price. The guild offers a staff of scribes which can transcribe magical texts into rituals. Membership to the guild will offer a substantial discount, and even an opportunity to study select texts within private tower laboratories on the library grounds. Yet entrance into the guild is a difficult procedure that is costly both in time and expense.

The arcane guild is very proactive in expanding its holdings. The library is well known for paying a fair price for historical texts and arcane tomes. They have even been willing to fund expeditions to ancient ruins to obtain literary treasures, or to produce accurate depictions and maps of lost civilizations. Many companies of adventurers have been known to contact the guild seeking employment for such expeditions.

Rival arcane guilds, even powerful lone wizards, are envious of the Coreldor arcane guild. They hold such a powerful resource of information within their folds. Stealthy attempts have been made to obtain a particular text, or secretly transcribe pages of documents. These thefts have always been stopped, but that has not dissuaded some brash rogues from trying.

There are whispers of a secret chamber within the library. Texts of immense power, some which describe the summoning of demons, or hold within their pages descriptions of great evil, are rumored to be kept there. Only the most trusted members of the arcane guild have entry to such a chamber. To obtain such books, scribe a few pages, or even read the contents of such documents would be a prize for any wizard. An adventurer that was steely enough to find this rumored chamber would likely have a fortune at their fingertips once inside.

The ‘bleah’ standard healing potion

I think healing potions are lackluster as is. The DMG encourages folks to regularly dispense them in treasure parcels. As is out of the PHB, players spend a healing surge and gain 10 hp instead of their regular healing surge value. This is all fine and good until you hit about level 4, then the 10 HP boost is almost up to par with your normal healing surge value. As per DMG suggestions, you should keep shelling out healing potions up to level 9. By level 11 you should be switching to the higher tiered potions of vitality.

Maybe I am doing my math wrong, but I see severe diminishing returns from these potions well before players reach the next tier. Okay at level 1 or 2, healing potions are pretty spiffy. Past that however, their value really becomes minor (even negligible) compared to a player’s typical healing surge value.

So I dumped healing potions in my game. I’ve instead ripped off an alchemical item from the Eberron’s players guide. I modified my healing potions to add a specific value in addition to what a player would gain spending a healing surge. They’ve been working fairly well. I think I’ll still have a problem when my group is teetering between heroic and paragon levels, but so far they are working tons better than the out-of-the-book varieties.

To mix it up, I do throw out the higher level healing potions occasionally. I don’t associate a price value with them, but in a pinch I would drop the price by half if a player were to purchase one. Standard healing potions are a great value for a few levels, but quickly drop off in worth once a player gets well within the heroic/paragon tier. So I present below Digby’s Healing Potion:

Digby’s Healing Potion

Level: 3
Category: Curative
Time: 1 Hour
Component Cost: See below
Market Price: 120 gp
Key Skill: Heal or Nature (no check)

This green colored concoction discovered by the legendary gnome alchemist, Digby. This centuries-old recipe is well known among alchemists for its recuperative powers.

I hope folks find this a useful item in their games. Anyone else finding the ‘official’ healing potions lackluster? If so, has anyone been using homebrew items?

4E Campaign podcasts

As I mentioned before, when starting off a campaign I think DM’s should freely loot what they can from other material. There are a lot of campaign primers you can pick up online, including from WoTC, that are free. There are two campaigns I want to bring up, mainly because they each include podcasts of players during actual game sessions.

The first is from Roleplaying Public Radio and their new world campaign setting. It is an intriguing setup as the players are part of a new group of colonists in a new land. Things are very fluid politically and there are a lot of moral quandaries and political factions for the players to get stuck in. The new world does have some indigenous tribes on its shores. How much effort should the players make to work with these groups?

One major obstacle is the need for massive labor. Labor is hard to come by so slavery might be an option for the colony. Should the players support such a thing? Also a goblin hulk is sitting off the waters of the colony. Goblins would be willing to do the bulk of labor on the cheap, but at what price in the future?

All of this has a backdrop of a larger story, where ruins of an ancient civilization are abound. Some players will be drawn towards these ruins through visions and dreams. Deep within those ruins lies the trigger for creating a new age, or will it bring the end of the world? Fun stuff abound here.

The podcasts are entertaining (if you are willing to put up with some NSFW junior high locker humor). While it is tailored to a particular group, just sitting through some of the player discussions regarding some of the sticker moral arguments is worthwhile. I think a DM could pick up a lot of ideas on what would work, and what would need some refining, when running their sessions.

Another minus for me in the podcast (aside from some of the coarse table-talk) is the painful recording of every fight. Playing out a combat is fun. Listening to people play is not. I typically find myself skipping much of the combats during the podcasts.

Still with its flaws, I think this is a great setting. Having the podcasts of actual sessions is also a huge plus as it serves as a reservoir for ideas. It can also highlight parts that can work (or need to be dropped/modified) for a session. Plus the setting is so open, I think a group would have a lot of fun tackling some of the political and moral elements of the campaign, all the while having the excitement of exploring a new land.

The other campaign podcast is Return to Northmoor which I’ve enjoyed a lot. The campaign is much more structured like a WoTC’s scales of war. It has info on encounters and thoroughly providing notes for running a game session.

One particularly interesting concept of the campaign is the relationships the players have with each other. Additionally, much of their background has a tremendous impact on the main story. The players begin at the periphery of a large kingdom making their final run on a cargo raft to a remote outpost. They stumble into an arcane mystery which leads them to an ancient civilization related to each of their pasts.

I really enjoy these podcasts. They are broken down into two types. One is a thorough discussion on tips and pointers for running the material provided. The second is actual recordings of the play sessions. What I particularly like is that the play sessions are edited. Some of the more exciting elements of combat are left in, but most of it is truncated or skipped over, with emphasis made on group roleplaying. I think it is a great format, and something to emulate more (are you listening WoTC?).

Those are two I’ve been following as of late. Anyone else found some fun 4E campaign podcasts?