On Reader Mail: Set Design and Phandelver

Nadav writes in and asks:

I've read your set design series of posts and am currently reading the D&D 5e Starter Set's Lost Mine of Phandalin. The book is filled with boxed text and I want to rekey it, but I've run into 2 connected issues: 1) boxed text as exposition (as opposed to describing a room) and 2) how to handle it as a set design dialogue (questions on bold nodes lead down arrows).

Ah, the starter set! What a good introduction to Dungeons and Dragons. It is, however, filled with an abundance of boxed text. Boxed text is an introductory tool for new Dungeon Masters, so this is no surprise.

During my conversation with Nadav, he also mentioned monster statistic blocks. This was fortunate because it triggered an insight about something that in hindsight is blindingly obvious.

Monster statistic blocks are designed to streamline play. Anyone who's played some iteration of the 3.x version of Dungeons & Dragons knows that you can use the statistic block to avoid referencing books and focus representing the monster in combat versus the players. Combat is one of those pillars of play that keep coming up in discussions about 5e.

Well, that's what set design is. It's a statistic block for the exploration pillar of play. Like statistic blocks for monsters, it allows you to make eye contact with your players–to engage your players–during the exploration part of gameplay. It's all about flow.

Here's a contrast between the two styles:

-The Dungeon Master opens the book and reads the passage. He's looking at the book. The players are trying to focus on what he's saying. The players then ask questions. The Dungeon master then must reference blocks of text to find the answers to the questions. 

 -The Dungeon Master looks at the rooms keywords, then looks up at the players and describes the room in his own words and fashion. When the players investigate, the Dungeon Master then scans the form for keywords (instead of a block of text) to discover what the players find.

Now, of course with liberal use of a hi-lighter and preparation, the first method can go smoothly. But much like a monster block allows you to handle a combat encounter without as much preparation, set design exploration blocks allow you to handle the exploration pillar without much preparation. It's more useful to the Dungeon Master at the table, whereas blocks of text are more useful for preparation and giving the Dungeon Master ideas (Though excessive, non-gameable, non-useful text is a perennial problem for gaming products).

Nadav continues:

For [boxed text as exposition], I've got the following written out for the very first boxed text in the book, and would like your opinion and critique on it:​

Do we need set design for exposition? Put another way, is there any advantage to having exposition be formatted in a different way?

It depends. You should know your exposition. You shouldn't need to reference anything to explain to the players what is happening, what the setup is, what the world is like.

Module play can often be uncreative and require 'touching up'. Attempting to do so extemporaneously means that we are relying on our own moment to moment creativity and without limits or random inputs, this frequently becomes repetitive. Surely we've all noticed repeated themes and ideas in our own play.

There is a more effective way to present exposition for use during play and I often go through such a process when re-keying a module. However, it's less focused on the traditional format of "Set Design"; the Dungeon Master is less likely to need to reference the exposition in response to player query.

As an aside: Deciding you're going to play a module, and using no more than two paragraphs of exposition to describe the hook  is one of the few occurrences that I personally think are ok for reading boxed text. 

It's important to note that this exposition usually is followed immediately by player (inter)action. Module exposition usually sets up a scene. As a counterpart to monster statistic blocks for combat and set design for exploration, this is effectively a discussion on how to handle a statistic block for interaction and role play.

Let's look at the block of text from the module:

"In the city of Neverwinter, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker asked you to bring a wagonload of provisions to the rough-and-tumble settlement of Phandalin, a couple of days' travel southeast of the city. Gundren was clearly excited and more then a little secretive about his reasons for the trip, saying only that he and his brothers had found "something big," and that he'd pay you ten gold pieces each for escorting his supplies safely to Barthen's Provisions, a trading post in Phandalin. He then set out ahead of you on h rose, along with a warrior escort named Sildar Hallwinter, claiming he needed to arrive early to "take care of business."
You've spent the last few days following the High Road south from Neverwinter, and you've just recently veered east along the Triboar Trail. You've encountered no trouble so far, but this territory can be dangerous. Bandits and outlaws have been known to lurk along the trail. "

Here's Nadav's example, using set design.

Neverwinter |   Pub → spring evening, rowdy

                         Gundren Rockseeker → excited, secretive, friendly

                                   → Job → haul provisions, immediate

                                               → Brothers → his two brothers, Tharden and Nundro

                                               → “something big” → won’t tell

                                               → 10gp a day → persuade +20gp

                                               → Leaving early → on horseback

                                                           → Sildar Hallwinter → warrior escort

                                                           → “take care of business” → won’t expand

                         Travel → uneventful

                                     → Few Days on High Road → south from Neverwinter

                                     → Half day on Triboar Trail → eastward from High Road, relatively dangerous, bandits and outlaws

It's clear from how Nadav keyed the above that the intent is for it to be an interaction. There's information about a persuasion roll, more information given about his brothers, and the scene is set in a pub.

However, this is a conversation, not a room. There's no physicality to it, no physical action for the players to take, just interaction with a non-player character. Laying out all seven items is the upper limit of what you'll be able to keep straight in an interaction. What we'd like to do is provide more interesting detail and reduce the overhead from the Dungeon Master.

For my own game I simply read the somewhat concise boxed text (as noted in the aside) and then moved towards the first encounter. Nadav clearly intends for the first scene to be set in Neverwinter. This is great, because at the time the starter set takes place, Neverwinter is a real shitshow. Lots of things going on in Neverwinter are tangentially connected to the Lost Mine of Phandelver. The downside is, of course, that the players may want to follow up on some of the excitement in Neverwinter instead of chasing ten gold and a crazy dwarf.

Here's how I'd go about setting this scene:

First, I go ahead and google "Neverwinter Inns" to discover the actual name of an inn in Neverwinter. Several options are available, the Driftwood Tavern seems useful for our purpose. Reading the wiki and checking out the 4th edition Neverwinter Campaign setting give me even more information to set the scene.

In laying out the following, I keep in mind if I'm going to need to reference the information after it's shared.

Madam Roscene
Herself

You arrive at the Driftwood Tavern in the city of Neverwinter to meet Gundren Rockseeker, a dwarf who says he has a job for you.
Dusky colored lights→ Stained glass hangs from above, lit by hundreds of candles
Bric-a-brac, curios, and relics→ Statue from fountain in corner, planter boxes with flowers line the walls
Fine Tables→ Made from ornate doors
Female Innkeeper→ older, serious-looking woman
Three Rough Looking Men→ irregular clothing, various weapons→ Mintarn Mercenaries

Madame Roscene (Serious/Reticent)
-2/Disadvantage/Disadvantage 

Mintarn Mercenaries (Rowdy/Invasive)
-2/+2/Disadvantage 

Gundren Rockseeker (Excited/Secretive/Friendly)
Advantage/-2/Disadvantage
· Offers job of hauling provisions south to Barthen's Provisions in Phandalin.
      10gp/day each→Persuade DC 15 to raise it to 30gp/day      What: General provisions needed for "something big" me and my brothers found      Where: South along the Highroad for 50 miles, then east on the Triboar Trail for about 18 miles, till you can see the western edge of the Sword Mountains to the south.       When: Immediately.→He's heading out now with Sildar Hallwinter on horseback, pick up the supplies and follow as soon as you are ready.      Why: I've got to take care of things before the supplies arrive. 

The modifiers are for the reaction check depending on how the party approaches the NPC. Friendly approaches first, then being obsequious, then hostile.

There's a lot not noted above, because I already know the female innkeeper is Madame Roscene. If you're writing for an audience besides yourself, you should have a general idea of the flow of the scene without player interaction. You have to give enough to the Dungeon Master to explain the motivations of the characters and grant an idea of how the scene proceeds. The best way to do that is with a short paragraph.

"Madame Roscene wants the Mintarn Mercenaries to leave. The Mercenaries are off duty, but stay alert for any possible seditious activity on behalf of Lord Neverember. Gundren will arrive at an opportune moment."

The above isn't perfect. I'm still refining and testing the best ways of presenting depth of non-player characters. But as for providing a shorthand for what you need for the character interaction/roleplay part, the above creates a dynamic scene where the DM can respond to the ebb and flow of play directly without a pre-planned outcome, versus reading two introductory expository paragraphs. I'd consider thinking about other questions the players might ask, as well as providing other hooks and rumors from Madame or the Mintarn Mercenaries. 

Thanks for the question Nadav.

---

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Google +, Facebook, Newsletter, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating) 

On Reader Mail: Set Design

More Reader Mail, this time on some questions about Set Design. 

"I'm attempting to key a modified version of the B1 module for an ACKS game I'll be running in a week and a bit, and I'm trying to use the method you describe in your two 'Set Design' blog posts.

I wanted, if you're amenable, to run the first room by you to see if I'm on roughly the right track, or if you had any recommendations for improvements.

Entrance |          6 Statues -> Saints (Muses, Knowledge throw to ID), Broken and vandalised -> Holding Writing Tablet (Calliope, Epic Poetry), Lyre (Terpsichore, Dance), Cithera (Erato, Love Poetry), Aulos (Euterpe, Song & Elegiac poetry), Comic mask (Thalia, Comedy), Tragic mask (Melpomene, Tragedy).               
             Columns -> Ornate, damaged.
             Tiled Mosaic Floor -> Broken, Coloured Geometric pattern
             Steps up -> into corridor -> triggers magic mouth
             5 Bodies -> 2 Human Bandits, 3 Human ‘adventurers’
             (1 Fighter, 1 Cleric (Sol), 1  Thief?) ->
                         Thief -> mucky red bandana,
                         Cleric -> broken Sol symbol,
                         Fighter -> ruined leather, bandits -> ratty wolfskin cloaks.

1. The alcoves contain statues, all of them broken. Anyone with knowledge of the old world can identify them as minor pleasure goddesses. The floor is tiled in a coloured geometric pattern. Many tiles are broken or missing, but clearly it was once very elaborate.

The magic mouth described here does not actually appear anywhere but a disembodied voice speaks as the first person climbs the short stair to the open arch at the north end of the hall. Rather than the text from the book, it says in a jovial voice, “Welcome guests! Seek your pleasures within!” It won't speak again unless someone passes again through the front entrance doors.

The grisly sight remains beyond the arch, with the addition of a broken statue. This statue is a stone angel, broken in two at the torso. The berserker wears a ratty wolfskin.

But that misses out some of the details from the original module, like the bodies.
Any advice? Suggestions? Critique?" 

Hi Stuart and thanks for writing in. I'm really glad you sent me this. It lets me talk more about the theory and practice behind the set design.


For those that are unaware, the point behind my method of set design is to allow you to quickly reference what you need in order to pay attention to the table and the players in the game. Reading the text is great for prep, but when playing, all you need are the easily locatable prompts. For example, compare:

" The alcoves contain statues, all of them broken. Anyone with knowledge of the old world can identify them as minor pleasure goddesses. The floor is tiled in a coloured geometric pattern. Many tiles are broken or missing, but clearly it was once very elaborate."

Alcoves -> Broken Statues -> Minor Pleasure Goddesses

Tile Mosaic Floor -> Elaborate Coloured geometric pattern, Broken Tiles

They are basically the same thing, but the written paragraph format means you need to stop and read, parse the information and then respond to player queries. Using keywords speeds up the process and helps combat the "I just read what kind of statues those were, where is it in the text".

The format of set design digitally is immediately visible things are in bold, Monster Names are underlined, with stats in italics. When I'm actually working with paper, so I'm rarely doing second drafts. I'll rewrite a module once, but doing it twice is a bit more work than something I want to do for my home table. I'd rather focus on creating more content. On paper, immediately visible things are thicker lines, monster names are underlined and stats are in parenthesis.

What I'm actually doing when I'm keying a room this way is thinking of how the players are walking into the room. What can they immediately see? What is going on nearby? What is most obvious? What must I mention at a bare minimum to maintain their agency? This is not an easy process, in either time or layout.

I understand that a lot of formatting got lost in the translation to me. I have rekeyed the adventure as I would run it below. I would do everything possible to eliminate any need for text blocks.

Entrance 1) | Ornate Columns -> Damaged

                     5 Bodies -> Human -> Male

                                                   Bandit (2)  -> ratty wolf skin cloak 

                                                   Cleric -> broken Sol Symbol

                                                   Fighter -> Ruined Leather

                                                   Thief -> Murky Red Bandana

                      Tiled Floor-> Elaborate coloured mosaic geometric pattern, Broken Tiles

                      6 Alcoves -> Broken Statues -> Minor Pleasure Goddesses (Knowledge to ID)

                      Stairway -> Triggers Magic Mouth 

                                                |->"Welcome guests! Seek your pleasures within!" (Audio Only)

                     The Statues -> 
                            Holding Writing Tablet (Calliope, Epic Poetry), 
                            Lyre (Terpsichore, Dance), Cithera (Erato, Love Poetry), 
                            Aulos (Euterpe, Song & Elegiac poetry), 
                            Comic mask (Thalia, Comedy), 
                            Tragic mask (Melpomene, Tragedy).
                            Stone Angel ->Broken in Twain

I cannot tell from your example if you intend on keeping the text. When I construct my modules, the whole of my text used is contained in the examples above.

Some of the above is dependent on how it is you intend to present the module. Are the statues immediately visible in the alcoves? Then they must be moved to the left of the arrow, like so:

6 Alcoves with Statues -> Broken -> Minor Pleasure Goddesses (Knowledge to ID)

or

6 Alcoves with Broken Statues->  Minor Pleasure Goddesses (Knowledge to ID)

The first indicates that the statues are immediately visible, the second indicates that they are very damaged.

I reorganized the order, because the human eye will be drawn to the columns first (because they are long narrow shapes at eye level) and the bodies second (because we are biologically engineered to seek out human forms, shapes, and patterns in visual stimuli first). The floor and stairway would be noticed after and later.

What isn't noted above, is that I will describe the room that the characters enter based on the information garnered from the map. E.g. "You walk through the door and see a (small|average|large|huge) (room|chamber|closet|hallway) with ornate columns running (at column locations). Bodies lay strewn around the room on the tiled floor. You can see alcoves in the dim light and a stairway that rises on the (N|E|S|W) wall. There is an exit(s) on the (N|E|S|W) wall."

---

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Twitch, Newsletter, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating)

On the Definitive Inadequacy of Boxed Text

Is boxed text bad?

Yes. Yes it is.

Why? Can you prove it?

90% of boxed text is terrible. 

"You feel afraid and grab your weapon hilt"
"Uh, I'm immune to fear and as a warlock, I don't have a weapon?"

We are not talking about that 90%. What we are going to look at is why "Good" boxed text is bad. Let's look at some fact.

Human beings have limited attention. They can only spend so much.

Listening to boxed text requires FOCUSED ATTENTION: the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things.

The average length of human focused attention is between 6-10 seconds.

Focused attention is different then sustained attention. Sustained attention is our ability to focus on tasks. This type of attention allows us to produce consistent results. Sustained attention is what allows us to play D&D for four hours, watch a movie, play a video game or read a book. These types of activities involve participation of our brain which is why we are able to maintain our focus.

Video games and movies? Aren't those passive activities? 

No. Cognitively, they provide multiple sensory inputs and can cause the brain to respond to stimuli. They are specific artistic creations to present only articles of central interest. That is literally the skill of film-making.

But surely I can have sustained attention to boxed text?

Sure, you can force yourself to focus on the dripping water in the sink without thinking of other things, or perhaps meditate by clearing your mind. It is difficult. It is a skill.

It is easier to do, if provided with things that are engaging. But even with videos and other multi-media presentation, you lose 1/2 of all people at 60 seconds. And that's with video!

Can't boxed text have information that is processed as "central interest" and therefore might draw our attention better?

In general, no. "Central Interest" to our auditory system is going to be things like exceptionally loud noises, predator noises, a child's cry, or perhaps information that affects our status quo ("I take damage?!") most boxed text, by definition, is not going to contain those things.

Isn't boxed text the best way to present the information?

Sure, if you only want an absolute maximum of 4 things to communicate in under 8 seconds, you're golden!

HOLD UP! When a module eschews boxed text, then you will have a module that doesn't have a clear separation between information the players have and the Dungeon Master knows! You need that. 

Well, yes. 

What I'm saying is boxed text, even well written boxed text is the absolutely worst way to accomplish that. Just because a rocket powered sled is faster than walking doesn't mean its an ideal way to travel to work.

The primary purpose of "good" boxed text is that it provides all the information available to the characters, separate from the information the Dungeon Master has about the contents of the room. 

Putting this information inside the interior of a block of text is bad information design. It is decent design for presentation but terrible design for reference. Room information must serve both purposes.

See, the boxed text clearly differentiates between what the players are immediately told, from what they can discover. But it buries the list of things that the players are told in a paragraph sized box of text and then separates those items, from what happens when the players actual begin manipulating those items. So first you have to find the pedestal in the boxed text above, and then you need to find what manipulating it does (or what's on it, etc.) in the block of texts below. That's bad design. 

Brendan suggests using a highlighter to overcome this problem. Well, that's how my dad did it, it should be good enough for me, right?

We shouldn't need to fix the design by marking up the books, the design in the module should serve its purpose!

Well, What am I paying for then!? I don't want a skeletal outline, I want to experience this module! All Set Design is, is an outline.

Well no. A single example of my room, from a personal notebook is not representative of what set design looks like in a product, or a module. That is partially what I'm trying to communicate. I'm working to get some examples of what I mean when I talk about set design out in the wild, rather than a simple one-off example of how a single room is keyed.

I am not suggesting "Bullet points and Bold text" to make the distinction. What I am suggesting is designing the information so that setting and game information can both be presented and referenced in an efficient, pleasant manner.

But how will you communicate the creative vision of your product without boxed text and background information?

To be absolutely clear, to hell with the novelist aspirations of the module writer.

Regardless of their answers, the Hermit raises his hands, awakening the 10 skeletons hidden beneath the earth of the hut, and launches into an attack, attempting to "recruit" the party into his undead army. -Legacy of Savage Kings, Pg 7. Harley Stroh

Not boxed text. Does a fine job of communicating something awesome, besides "monsters attack".

Making people listen to prose, (or read fiction in a rule-book) is possibly the worst way to transmit information about a creative vision or setting. I've often found the only defenders are those who, well, write prose or fiction in a rule-book to communicate a creative vision or setting.

It's not 'the worst way' because of some abstract dislike of fiction. I love fiction. It's 'the worst way' because it is very bad at accomplishing the goal of transmitting that information. 

Short fiction is often skipped, only read by the Dungeon Master, or is unmemorable and not very good at it's stated purpose. (Quick! What's the plot of any book you've read? Now look at your RPG shelf and see how many examples from the fiction you remember reading!)

But beyond those reasons, it literally isn't relevant at the table. What you can buy on the equipment list is. And it is those things, the literal game objects that create the creative vision and flavor. People who play Dungeon Crawl Classics remember that their character started out with a chicken or a shovel. That becomes the take-away of the creative vision.

I want my monies worth!

I agree. I want that same thing from a module you want. I want it to be creative. I want it to be evocative. I want it to provide setting, environment and theme. 

Boxed text is a rip-off that doesn't do those things very well. I want my monies worth from module also. I want something better. 

---

Hack & Slash 
Follow, Twitch, Newsletter, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating)

On Expanded Set Design

The other day I was talking about Set Design, or how to write a 'useful in play' adventure description. I gave some examples of how I would key rooms, and was asked a question about how I would key a more complicated room. The example is below.

Brendon of OSR search asked me to key this location from Matt Finch's Demonspore module. (Print) (.pdf)

Original Text reproduced under "Fair Use".

5. The Lake Portcullis

BEGIN boxed text

A massive portcullis of wooden beams, bolted together with iron, bars the way across the tunnel and river. The unpleasant smell of rotten fish is heavy in the air.

END boxed text

Monsters

• Toad-Man Sentries (2): HD 2+1; HP 11, 5; AC 6[13]; Atk 1 spear (1d8); Move 9 (Swim 12); Save 16; AL C; CL/XP 2/30; Special: None.

Description

Two toad-man sentries guard this portcullis. Because the dam beyond (AREA 4) is also protected by a locked gate and portcullis, guards at this portcullis are almost never particularly alert. If a party of adventurers calls out from the gate at the dam, or lingers very long there making noise or carrying a light, the guards will raise the portcullis and go to find out who seeks entrance into the Halls from the river. Obviously, this is a foolish way of manning the defenses since it leaves the portcullis open. However, it has been so long since the Halls faced any serious attack from the river entrance that the toad-men are not cautious at this entrance. Just inside the portcullis there are five reeking wooden buckets, half-filled with what appear to be fish guts. These are used to placate the toad-hydra beneath the bridge at AREA 9. If the party peacefully buys entrance into the Halls, the sentries will hand them a bucket of fish guts, and explain, “For crossing the bridge.”

The central part of the portcullis, which descends into the river, has longer bars than the rest of the gate, descending into the river itself. However, the bars do not actually extend all the way down to the riverbed, and if the party is entering (or leaving) the Halls under the river, it would be easy to squeeze underneath.

Treasure: One toad-man carries a pouch containing 10gp and a small crystal worth 50gp. The second toad-man carries 22gp and a potion of healing.

How I would code such a room.

Lake Portcullis 5) | Portcullis→wooden→blocks tunnel & river→can pass under portcullis

                               Beyond Portcullis→buckets→wooden→reeking→fish guts

                              |→If party noticed (light, noise) 2 Toad-Man Sentries approach

                                      (AC 6[13], HD 2+1; HP 11, 5; spear 1-8; Save 16; XP30)

                                      |→Pouch→leather→1) crystal (50 gp), 10 gp; 2) Potion (healing), 22 gp;

                               Toad-Man Sentries raise portcullis to approach party.  

                                 |→ Fight→Defend in tunnel

                                 |→ Parley→Purchase Passage→Fish gut bucket→"For Crossing Bridge"

Why do things this way? The physical structure of the room is first. The relevant triggers for action are bolded much like the immediately visible items because they are the "immediately important actions". Monsters are underlined with stats in italics, allowing me to ignore them when scanning the description and find them quickly when combat starts. (You can test this. Look away and think "I'm going to look for the monster"; or "monster stats"; or "what the players can see from the entrance". Then glance back and see how long it takes you to find it.)

The various options when interacting with the sentries are outlined here. It is separated for ease of location. I just wrote what was in the original key, though in my games, I would also add a personality word and some 'Combat Commentary' in the left hand margin.

I find that the quick outline gives me the information I need allowing me to facilitate a game without having to stop the game to read.

 

Have a separate section of the module for 'exposition' before each dungeon section is where a broad overview can be presented. This beginning narrative explication would give the person running the game, the information they need to parse any more complicated situations. Visual aids such as artwork and descriptive useful maps (with light sources, sound ranges, verticality) also help.

 The reason I prefer the above to the ultra-simple Teagol Manor style, because it makes it more clear what is in the room at a glance, and provides slightly more information making my responses more varied and creative.

---

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Twitch, Newsletter, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating)

On Artifices & Deceptions: Triggers, Light

Light Detection: This trigger only functions in always lit or never lit areas. It works by using materials that react to the interruption or exposure to light. The source of light can be natural (sunlight/moonlight), magical (light, continual light), or man made (incandescent, torchlight, lasers). The trigger can be set to go off after the first interruption or detection of light, or it can be set to be triggered after a certain number of counted interruptions or time exposed to light.  This simplistic description of light detection neglects the various ways it can be used.

This is an effective trick or puzzle when the sensor responds only to a certain color of light.

The default stance of the trick, is of course that once torch, lantern, or sun-rod light is shone on the trigger, the trap is set, but it is also a useful stance for constructing a puzzle.

Often the sensor will be visible as a colored opaque crystal sphere. This should be breakable of course but doing so should ruin the mechanism.

The trigger most certainly does not have to be binary. It can require a certain degree or configuration of light, or perhaps be part of a multi-part puzzle where the light that triggers the light detector also gives a clue to the next step in the process while allowing the puzzle to succeed (like opening a door or portal where something must be thrown).

Traditional Use

S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax

2. STRANGLE VINES: . . .These creepers are attracted to the strongest light source, i.e. Continual Light, bright ship’s light, light, lantern, magic sword glow, torch light.

. . . If the ship’s lights are on the viewers will see various forms of large and small fish, and have a one in six chance of getting a glimpse of the “frog-thing”. . . Glints of gems will be seen from the lake bed! If they use lights in the observatory they absolutely will not only see that creature, but it will begin smashing at the plastiglass observation windows to get at the tender morsels within. The chance to break through is 5% per round. Attempts will cease as soon as the light is extinguished or the party is out of the monster’s sight.

S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax

1. SMALL CAVE WITH MANY TUNNELS

This low-domed chamber has its ceiling literally dripping with stalactites. . . A tribe of 18 troglodytes lairs in the five small tunnels which radiate from this cave. . . Unless the party is exceptionally quiet and shows no light, the trodlodytes will be lurking in ambush for them, and they will surprise the party on a 1-4 (d6) or a 1-2 if a ranger is leading the party.

T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil by Gary Gygax

339. HALL OF ELEMENTAL MAGIC

This huge echoing hall is constructed of polished black stones, which give back odd reflections of your light. The most striking features here are the symbols set into the chamber floor. To the north is a triangle of dull ecru stone, outlined with some sort of gray metal; a throbbing radiance seems to spread in dun-colored pulses that wash over the area. To the east is a great 10’ square of translucent stone, blue at the edges and shading to a deep green at the center, bordered by a strip of pale green; the whole gives out undulating sheets of blue-green light. To the south is a circle of translucent crystal ringed by a silvery band; the whole sends forth slowly rising clouds of pale light, that spread and disappear. To the west is a long diamond shape with four points radiating from the sides of the lozenge. The whole is fashioned of translucent stone mottled red and amber, outlined in red gold. It sends up sudden tongues of brightness, planes of pale fiery light that vanish as quickly as they appear.

All of these radiations gleam from the walls and floor of the hall. Any object in the center of the four symbols shows the four different illuminations, and the ghastly purple of their mix.. . . Any creature who steps into the area of an elemental symbol and stands there for 3 segments is transported to the corresponding Elemental Node: the Air Cavern (circle), the Earth Burrows (triangle), the Fire Pits (lozenge), or Water Maze (square). The only way to escape therefrom is to win through to another “gate” area or to possess the complete Orb of Golden Death, inset with all four proper gems.

Light detection design 

Early use can be situations in which characters must maneuver without light to avoid an enemy. Simple puzzles can differ based on the time of day or season. Mirrors to reflect light into certain spots (with multiple solutions so that players might discover one and not another). Later, more difficult puzzles can be avoiding light being used as a tripwire, or environments that change based on available light (such as a room that is different at night than during the day).

If you like posts like this, support me on Patreon!

---

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Twitch, Newsletter, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating)

On Lore

Sinless is a fully independent intellectual property with it's own lore. The basics: magic came back, a lot of data and tech was lost, there's fewer people and corporations are in charge are all the "lore" anyone needs to know.

It is not required to read one sentence of background or lore to play the game. You're already familiar with the idea of mages, ronin, deckers, riggers—they are just different 'classes' of approaching situations.

Not needing to know a single piece of background is a strength. like in the Forgotten Realms or Dark Souls, the lore is there to provide depth to those who seek it, but it isn't in any way required: It's designed to be set up so you can play out your cyber-sorcery games, not mine.

It's explicitly a classic-style game. What do I mean by that? I mean, like in early games, it was about sandboxes, open tables, and an evolving world. All the Sinless games in the discord take place in the same city. It isn't set up for traditional play, like in second edition, or vampire: the masquerade where there's a plot and the players follow it.

But, due to the fact that it follows a B/X (Basic/eXpert, Moldvay/Cook) modular exception-based design it is trivial to use the system without engaging in the corporation/brand building mechanics. 

In fact, that was the original design. I always found it difficult to understand how much to pay, what the budgets were for these corporations, how to model the surrounding effects of operational fallout, how would it impact the economy in the area. How do you handle medical procedures, acquiring new weapons, hurting or defeating a corporation. 

I don't want the players to do what I want, I want to find out what happens when they play.

So in laying out a system to handle common player actions (finding someone, gathering information, buying things, upgrading their character), it was necessary to create a framework (like a literal guide) to Gamemasters, so they knew how much to pay for operations, and how these entities interacted for players to affect them.

And all that exists! You can use it just like that, and handle character actions during downtime without needing to engage in brand or company management at all!

That said, since there's this wonderful framework for creating and managing power structures in the city, it is pretty easy to add a few actions that allow players to interact with that.

And during playtesting, it turns out it's pretty fun to fight over sectors and resources in an area. It's like, clearing hexes, but instead of killing indigenous species, you're making rich people miserable. 

---

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Twitch, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating) sinlessrpg.com

On Reader Mail, Cities and Encounter Design

Hey Courtney,

Only just started GMing (well, probably 9 months ago now) and really enjoyed your articles on Adventure and Set Design. They've really broadened my perspective on player agency and allowed me to plan–and most importantly, play–more efficiently and effectively.

Planning linear encounters seems simple, especially the way you do it. I also find planning the power and time structures fairly simple, because these are things that humans already plan with flowcharts and timetables.

What I'm finding most clumsy is planning sandboxy space structures. With dungeons and hexcrawls, this is pretty simple; use a map, code the rooms with numbers. But how do you plan towns, or huge cities? Specifically, how do you label/annotate such structures?

Is there something I'm missing? Please help!

Cheers,

Kalle

Hi Kalle. This is surely a sticky wicket. I have been thinking very hard about this problem.

Unlike dungeons which, as you note, have received a high degree of development, cities have few representations at all, much less highly iterated or developed ones.

There have been some notable examples though. Early examples include the encounter tables for City-state of the invincible overlord and city encounters in the Judges Guild ready reference pages. (Neither is available for purchase, Rob Conley explains why here.)  Having used these encounter tables, you're equally likely to run into a petty god or a king as opposed to your average peasant. On the other end of the spectrum is nearly 700 page Ptolus campaign setting which, in true 3.5 style leaves little to the imagination. There's were books from judges guild on villages, each containing a page map along with certain basic information about the city. One of the best of the old supplements is Cities by Midkemia press. And TSR made numerous entries into city supplements during second edition, notably Lankhmar (and little else). The adventures involving Lankhmar are of the standard 2nd edition type and can be easily ignored.

Then there's the dry tournament early Gygax style of T1 and B2, where the settlement is described in exhaustive detail, and actual relevant information is hidden within pages listing the value of bedspreads, curtains, and hidden treasure in niches. Let's not forget the literal hundreds of supplements describing inns, city sections, specific cities, districts and more.

The Key

It's about purpose. What's a dungeon there for? Looting! Danger! Adventure! Cities are less simple.

Cities are literally a word for where citizens gather and build things. Along comes the whole of human nature: drama, politics, power struggles, oppression, opportunity, families, children, light and darkness–The whole of the human condition. Combine that with the character motivations in the game and how in the hell do you notate that?!

There are different purposes that cities serve. The purpose of a city changing over time is what makes city notation so difficult.

The first is a base, a place where adventure does not occur. This is not well suited for adventure campaign play. It sets up walls the players don't expect to be there, it breaks verisimilitude and removes a lot of options from play. It is well suited for megadungeon play. The base is represented excellently by a menu style, allowing the players to quickly access whatever they need to get on with the play of the game.

Another purpose cities serve is discovery. These are cities and villages stumbled upon while traveling or hex-crawling. They provide a safe place to rest with some risk or unknowns involved. Generally  characterized by a single major feature or two, and have one or two issues or quests the players can get involved in.

A city can be an adventure site. These are the Gygax styled Homlettes, forts on borderlands, and Phandelvers. They are visited multiple times, with resources and adventure sites contained within. They work best in traditional sandboxes. In a larger, more complicated city, point crawls are useful to avoid spending all that time mapping out non-interesting areas. The travel in a larger city is more risky, lending support to that point crawl random encounter style.

And like all campaigns, each of these can change over time. So you might start with an area being one type of site and it might grow and change into another, necessitating a change or expansion in the way in which you've keyed it.

Other Factors

There are other things to keep in mind. There are no cell phones, no maps, no cars, no useful information sources on what's around the next corner. That means for anything beyond a small village or hamlet, travel within the city can be difficult. A city the size of Phandelver doesn't have this problem. You can stand in the center and in a few minutes know what each building or place is. But when you get much larger, travel time, dangers, and information can be unknown.

Imagine being dropped into Chicago on foot in a random place with no maps, narrower streets and no cars. There's no public police force and no easy way of contacting the guard. How many buildings are locked? Where can you rest? How threatening are your environs? You come off as an outsider, and unless you are in the appropriate section of the city will likely be treated badly by the locals.

Large cities, really large cities of the Baldur's Gate, Invincible Overlord, or Waterdeep type are not places you can just hop out your door and head to your destination. I've found that the Judge's Guild type encounter tables along with urban skill rolls to determine travel time rather useful in this regard. I wouldn't bother with mapping such large cities, except in the broadest and most general way.

Small and medium sized cities can be handled much like mini-hexcrawls with broad background maintained, but exploration and contents determined randomly as they explore local and distant neighborhoods. The shared discovery and mapping of uncharted territory can be a fun exercise, as long as players have pre-existing goals. 

Conclusion

There is still a lot of work to be done in this area. I suggest checking out a few of the works linked above for rough ideas about how to generate and key cities as adventure sites. (I am not affiliated with any of the products, nor receive any revenue from their purchase). I recently completed a work covering many of these topics, which you can get here: On Downtime and Demesnes. 

Figure out what the purpose of your city is and then figure out what information you need to minimally generate in order to make the situation fun for your players. 

This reader mail was originally published on 8/8/16. If you like these posts, consider supporting me on Patreon.  

---

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Twitch, Newsletter, Support, Discord, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating)

On Dice and Mechanics

 

So, obviously a D&D clone uses a d20 right?

We know there are certain expectations for certain types of games. Cyberpunk uses a d6/d10 system with edge case weirdness. Shadowrun uses giant pools of d6's.  Blades in the dark, old savage worlds, d6. 

But there are problems with those systems. For me; I mean, knock yourself out. 

Cyberpunk uses exploding dice which create weird dead zones in success chances. This is not a big deal. Shadowrun had this cycle of design, where huge pools always succeed -> add limits -> limits are dull ->add edge, and now you're using hero points. Which again, ok, fine.

I mean, they are fine. But I felt memories of when I enjoyed d6's. Original Shadowrun picking up a ton of dice. Song of Blades and Heroes where every choice is a tactical risk. Warhammer 40k, when saving on a 2+. 

I'm not a statistician. I had too many semesters of calculus at 6:30 in the morning in a basement to want to love number play-doh. I'm not afraid of math. But, you know, it's not particularly intuitive for me. I wasn't setting out to create some radical new design. I wanted something understandable, scalable, and most of all fun. I wanted it to work during play.

The normal process of seeing Sinless
and then opening and reading Sinless.

This system was playtested and iterated. I started with the idea of attribute 'pools' that drain during combat. When you use a die from your pool, you lose access until the next round. You also used these pools to defend. Reasonably quickly it got wonky. So we condensed the pools to four, four types of attacks, four types of defenses. Pools built from attributes.

Understandable: I ran a lot of 3e Shadowrun. I have an A4 sized page that is separated into three sections: All of the target number combat modifiers, all of the target number matrix modifiers, and all the target number magic modifiers. In tiny-teensy print. Front and back. It's in a box right now, but I'll gladly take pictures next time I run across it. 

So variable target numbers are right out. 

Gear is a huge, part of the fun is the shopping! Cyberpunk character creation is a shopping spree for gamers. It's fun!

I wanted gear to be involved in the core of play. This would be twofold: mitigating the mechanical importance of gear to the game, and involving gear in the core mechanic.

Players roll a number of dice equal to their skill plus the relevant gear feature.

Just in the realm of guns, that's some great design space. Guns with similar accuracies can vary the other features an—oh, got excited there for a second. Did you know I'm a game designer?

So let's talk about the scope of the mechanics. We don't want something that caps out. I like to run and design games that can last for 100+ sessions. I want solid feeling of advancement without it growing out of control. 

So the player gets to distribute both their expertise and money across the desired features.

They roll dice versus a static target number, more successes is more good.

About that target number though.

Stable Targets

Look, I ran Shadowrun for a decade. It was a lot of work. So I took every step possible to reduce the work on the Agonarch (the person running the game) in Sinless.

Operations are organized into tiers. Veteran runs have a target number of 4+. Professional runs have better trained opponents and more expensive  security measures with a target number of 5+, and Prime runs have military security and the highest levels of response and training for a difficulty of 6+. 

This caused more than one person pause during development. But keep in mind

we're developing a game. If you can suspend your disbelief about the uplifts, magic particle, spirits, and cybertechtronics, but "things are harder when opponent is more powerful" is the straw, then I got nothing for you.

Look at how it works for the Agonarch. It decouples length and opposition from difficulty. Players don't have to slow down to recalculate target numbers. Agonarchs can use the same statistic block and the opponent will be challenging to the players. And it works remarkable well with rolling between 1-XX d6's to accomplish a task. 

Your average uplifted bear mercenary after character creation should get 1ish successes on a prime run on a roll with 8 or 9 dice, or 4ish on a veteran run. (I did a bunch of math, but we don't need to get too far into that now).

That's for the things they do. You know the Punching guy is going to take Cybertechtronic Combat at 6, the Shooting are going to take Firearms 6, hackers will have Computer: Hacking at 6. You want them to be competent. 

But you don't get tested on only the things you do well on an operation. 

Characters improve by spending experience to boost attributes to increase pool sizes, and increase skills up to 6.

Once you reach certain kismet (experience) thresholds (10/20) they can select boons. Boons like, Raise a skill from 6 to 7. Or raise a skill from 7 to 8. Or gain pool resilience.

Oh, right, let's talk about the pools.

Going for a Swim

What I really like about Song and Blades of Heroes is that you decide your relative power and risk. Each unit has an activation threshold. You can roll between 1 to 3 dice, and if you have 2 failures on a roll your turn ends. Look at that decision tree! Do I roll three dice and activate my easy to activate unit and risk a turn end, or do I make some 1 die rolls to activate some non important units. 

So the same pools the characters use during combat to attack are the same pools they use to defend. They spend as many dice from their pools as they wish up to the limit of their skill ranking + gear. 

This is an engaging decision: how far will I extend myself? what are the relevant threats to my pools? Can we focus certain types of attacks to drain prime opponent pools? How many dice can I penalize an opponent with my actions? It creates a constant variable player controlled risk/reward mechanic in combat.

E.g. You can charge to allow you to spend Brawn pool dice to add additional distance to a double move, which allows you to neutralize their firearms advantage if you get within range of the opposition. This is the same resource that allows you to soak damage. 

There are not many modifiers, but you can get bonus and penalty dice rather than numbers, leading to contests over  battlefield resources (Cover, network access nodes, and ley lines).

The combat cadence is similar to Warhammer 40k. Attacks hit, successes are added to weapon damage, target chooses to dodge and soak. Resolution is quick.

Pool resilience are dice that never get exhausted from the pool. This tiered system of acquiring mutually exclusive rewards at these at thresholds and certain mutually exclusive choices during character creation means we avoid the GURPS problem of point based character improvement all ultimately converging at high enough power levels. 

Certain effects and tech can grant rerolls, and mechanically there's a rock/paper/scissors going on between magic/electronic/physical attacks and targets and their respective pools/vulnerabilities.

Beyond the fight 

That just creates a bunch of interesting choices in combat, but that's not all. 

The game contains a series of frameworks that provide a structure for the players to gather information and plan out a heist in whatever way they wish. 

There's a reason Leverage and Blades in the Dark use 'flashbacks' to handle jobs. That is entirely too narrative for me. The joy is sitting there watching the players plan the operation for 3 hours. I didn't want to address the problem by ignoring it.

The problem in those old games was I had to do all the work to set the parameters and scope.  Well, the frameworks do that for you. They are descriptive, not prescriptive. They are tool, not a directive. There is information about the target site. Players have a limited opportunity to gather information from their assets and skills, and then can use that information while they plan. The process is explicit, their use manifold, and most importantly, fun in play. 

That's not the only way frameworks are used: how to handle character infiltration before/without triggering a fight, Information about how to price contracts the players sign to do operations, how to neutrally arbitrate the players getting targeted by opponents for kidnapping or capture, an entire exciting method of resolving car chases, bricolage to upgrade the van to make a plan come together and more!

Memento Mori

Is it perfect? Almost certainly not. I'm sure someone will rapidly find Sinless's Peasant Rail Gun, but it meets all my criteria. It's fast in play, encourages tactical as well as strategic thinking, and is rich in design space and character growth and development potential. It's also pretty stable, easy for people to understand what their chances are, and the mechanic can be extended to resolve situations that aren't covered by the rules. (You got a lotta nice pools over there buddy. Shame if something would happen to those. Yeah, a real shame.)

I wasn't setting out to reinvent the wheel. I'm not claiming anything in this mechanical system is particularly novel. You get two actions and a reflex action on your turn, for crying out loud. It's pretty straightforward stuff. But it's fun as hell. 

People think it's pretty cool! 

---

Hack & Slash 

Follow, Twitch, Newsletter, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 Star Rating)