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 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 a Map of the Known

A map of the known world that my players purchased!
Totally Accurate!

If you click me, I get bigger!

On Set Design

There have been some posts lately on how to label adventures.

I think that the old methods and indeed these new methods are unsatisfactory! I run a game based on agency and that has certain specific description requirements. Here is an example of some encounters in my adventures and how I think they should be labeled.

My entry for the famous Tick room in the Moathouse. The bar is the line separator on the page.

Kitchen 17)  | Tables -> Stained, Wooden Cask->Giant Tick! 

                      (AC 16, HD 3, HP 19, Bite +5/1-4/1-6 auto, ML (20) XP 141)

Here is an entry with treasure and a monster

Small Alcove 32) | Refuse, Furniture, Bones->in corner, 8 Ghouls!

                                (AC 6, HD 2, +3/1d4-1/1d4-1/1d6, Para 1d6+2, ML (20) XP 175)

Ornate Iron Armchair-> Dwarven, decorative cobalt inlay (900gp) 65lbs. + Bulky.

Blanket (60gp) Chiffon, covering-> ottoman, Hollow slate upholstered in woven twill. (200 gp) 35lbs. + Bulky.

      -> Gem, Kunzite  /mi (202 gp) 

      -> Human sized Iron mail (Chain +1, weightless)

      -> Fleece Pouch (Pouch of Accessibility)

      -> 3 Scrolls (Scroll-Protection from lycanthropes, Scroll-Cursed, 

          Scroll-Cleric, spell levels 1,2,4,5,6,6)

Sack, Moleskin(10gp) Horsehair cord->platinum aiguillette-> 3 vs/vf Rubies (400 gp)

       -> 400 gp, 200 hs, and 80 pp

Let's break down how this works.

• Before the bar on the page is the room type. This let's me know instantly what kind of room this is. When stocking this room, I use Empty Rooms which lists common contents for every room type. Ever. In the history of the world. All rooms.
• After the bar are the immediately visible items! When describing things, I only use the bolded words! The players receive no extra information unless they ask for it!
• The arrows indicate that it is either "Information available upon further examination" or "An item contained in or on the container". For items containing or supporting multiple items (tables, chests) indents are used to group the items.
• The order the thing is listed, is the actual order it is stacked. I.e. Inside the ottoman, the gem is on top of the mail, which is covering the pouch and scrolls.
• Gems are noted as to number, with size/quality following. Blanks indicate average size/quality. The GP value is for each individual gem. 
• Coins listed without modifiers are just that, loose coins.
• Any word that is not important, is not used. It is clear, for example, that the horsehair cord with the platinum aiguillette is what is securing the moleskin sack, by virtue of it being listed on the same line.

Example:

On the fly, I look down and say, "Roll for surprise (party rolls a 4, ghouls roll a 3) You see a small alcove filled with bones, furniture and refuse, as half a dozen dessicated humanoids turn towards you and groan. They move forward intent on consuming your immortal souls, except for you Frank. Declare actions." After the combat I will go "What do you do?"

If they go, "We look around." I'll say, "You see a small alcove with refuse, furniture, and bones in the corner"

If they say, "We look at the furniture." I'll say, "You see an ornate iron armchair, a blanket covering something like a box, and a sack sitting next to the chair."
"What's under the blanket."
"You can't tell from here."

Explanation:

The key things here are speed, flexibility, and creativity. I do it this way, because I am in constant engagement with the players.

I look down at the tick room, and I see enough information to tell me everything I need to run the encounter successfully in seven words. The next time I will have to disengage from the players is to read the Ticks stats!

It also allows me to construct encounters dependent on player skill, in such a way that I won't give away anything by having to check the sheet. I've given them the inter-actable objects, with the red herrings, so they can't read where the danger is.

This structure changes depending on the complexity of the room easily, while still keeping the information clear, and not taking up a ton of space on my sheets.

From the player side, they don't know what the results of interacting with anything will be, so even though it seems simple from the DM's side, it remains a complicated sequence of choices for the players.

Mostly it's safe to examine refuse or travel through it, except when it isn't. If they didn't examine the refuse; and it contained rot grubs; and they moved to inspect the furniture. . .

My school is all old up in here.

Epilogue:

In the classic DMG example:

DM:'First, the others checking the containers find that they held nothing but water, or ore totally empty, and that the wood is rotten to boot. You see a few white, eyeless fish and various stone formations in a pool of water about 4' to 6' deep and about 10' long. That's all. Do you wish to leave the place now?"

 I would key the room as so:

Water Room 2) | Barrels->Location A->Water, Rotting, Buckets, Small Rivulet/Pool

                           Stream (Rivulet)->Cold, Fast, North to South, 7'-5' wide, 3'-5' deep

                           Pool of Water->Mineral Formation->Skeleton->Hand->Key

                                                                                          |->Disturb->Cylinder dislodged, 

                                                                                              floats South in steam, AC 16

                           Cylinder->Watertight Ivory Tube->Vellum Map of level (See Handout)

---

Hack & Slash 

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

On How an Illusion Can Rob Your Game of Fun

You think you're saving effort. You're not. You think you're making things more 'fun' for the players, but really, you're ruining their fun.

Sometimes you will see a children's cartoon, where they will take the toy and push the button that shoots the missile or fist or something, and they will be so happy this occurs that they will stop playing and give each other a high five.

YOUR PRECIOUS OGRE ENCOUNTER WILL NOT CAUSE YOUR PLAYERS TO DO THAT. If you force them into an encounter—even if they are unaware of the fact that they are being forced, eventually they will grow to resent you. And it will not be long before they become aware.

This is in response to an article by Beedo over at the excellent Dreams in the Lich House. 

First - what in the hell are we talking about? Illusionism is defined as being presented with a choice that doesn't matter. Beedo's current example are three groves that the players can explore in any order. Beedo provides two examples, one in which SCRIPTO-DM assigns content before the players encounter it, and another in which IMPROV-DM creates encounters (such as a cool ogre encounter) and leaves them unassigned. Then, no matter which grove the players enter, they have his ogre encounter.

What's wrong with making the ogre encounter being the first one the PC's select?

Let's look at some of the comments, and why they do impact agency, and therefore fun.

"By deciding at game time that the MacGuffin is not in Wood C, and the Ogre is there instead, has he *actually* violated player agency?  Player will or choice has not been thwarted.  They wanted to go to the woods, and Lo! - they are in the woods.  And yet objectively he has preordained a game result." - Beedo

Player choice has been thwarted, because the players were presented with a meaningless choice. Does it matter if they know the choice was meaningless or not? If the players have no hint of where the ogre is does it rob them of agency?

It matters for these reasons.

• If you always pre-ordain 'your precious encounter' then the players never have the experience of choosing correctly and skipping right to the end (which is fun for them).
• The flaw of the Quantum Ogre is that, if you have a party who plays smart, he won't be quantum long before you enter the woods, and then you've wasted time by not assigning him to a location already or you become the jerk DM where ESP doesn't work, the ground doesn't hold tracks, and if you try and teleport - suddenly anti-magic fields everywhere.

Palette Shifting

Let's take just one moment and talk about palette shifting. There is some misunderstanding of what is meant by this term.

A palette shift is when the players become aware of an encounter, and when making a choice to avoid that encounter, the DM re-skins (changes the 'color palette') the encounter and has them encounter it anyway.

 This can be as simple as the bandit encounter (Bandits to the east - we go west! ack, bandits here too!), or as complex as totally different monsters who lead you to exactly the same place. This can be used to either negate the players choice (You're going to fight my special bandits anyway!) or to negate player freedom (It doesn't matter what you do, you will meet the cultists of Bane!).

Pre-scripting 12 encounter lairs, and randomly generating which is in a hex that was unknown is *not* palette shifting. Having undefined "white space" in a campaign, and dynamically filling it with pre-generated content later is not palette shifting.

Sandbox Triangle

Fast, good, and cheap, pick 2 in the design and management of a sandbox doesn't apply. 

It's based on a fallacy, one of wasted effort. There is no 'effort/detail/freedom' sandbox triangle in the OSR, and the postulation of one is a lie! Though it's an easily believable one. The idea is that work is 'wasted', that somehow if you put a lot of detail into areas that the players don't visit you will be having time you've spent preparing wasted.

Being creative does not, in fact, make you less creative. The more you create, the more your output increases! Let's ignore that there's enough free material on the web to stock 1 millarn over 9000 hexes and dungeons with no more effort than hitting print, not to mention random tables, and point out that if you can't get enough detail to give the players freedom because it takes too much effort then you are expanding the wrong kind of effort.

How long is a gaming session? 4-8 hours? I bet most of us are lucky to push 4 hours in a session. How much can be done in that time at the table? What will you need? 1 million areas? 5 areas? It just isn't enough time to go through that many options. Let's assume you don't know where your players will go. How many options do they need? 3? 5? Let's assume 6 (one for each hex face). So what do you need to come up with?

• six general encounters for hexes, 
• a random encounter table, and 
• a table of random stuff if they reject all six of your hooks. 

Can you not create the basics of that in under an hour? All that work you 'wasted' in your last campaign—well it's a new campaign, can't you find a place to stick it in?

"The idea being, the Dungeon Master built a forest village down the east road; when the group goes down the west road instead, and visits a new forest village, go ahead and use the (never visited) east village instead. Because no information has been spoiled, the players don't know the difference, and the DM doesn't waste any work. It's compelling if pulled off well, but changes many of my ideas about prepping for the sandbox." -Beedo

Agency Theft

What's really terrible about the destruction of player agency in the above examples is the implicit thought that 'your encounter that's sooo cool' is what makes Dungeons and Dragons fun. It's not. It's getting in that Dispel Evil on Strahd that slays him outright. It's getting that critical on that dragon while it's talking shit. It's taking down that frost giant at first level—not a fsking precious encounter.

It's when through luck, chance, or skill, something amazing and heroic happens; Removing you from the real world and giving a rare glimpse with a few close friends into a realm where something truly unique and heroic has happened that the rest of the world will never see. 

How can your little pre-planned scripted encounter compare to that?

Edit: The publication date has been changed for proper tag display. The original publication date was 9/11/11

This content is available in print at Lulu and digitally from DTRPG.

---

Hack & Slash 

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

On Slaying the Quantum Ogre

All this rhodmontade over agency has a purpose!

Let's learn how to slay the Quantum Ogre.

How do we give players agency—how do we let their choices have the effects that relate to the intents of that choice? The primary rule is stay true to your role as arbiter and facilitator of player choice.

Information

This is the key to player agency, since it informs their choice. Without information, they cannot make a choice with intent. This is important in many ways, in many situations. You must study this.

Some examples

• When dropping hints, drop them three times.
• When the players are discussing things, and they have misunderstood something or your intent, correct them.
• When the players tell you what they are doing, also ask them what they want (why they are doing it) and make sure that their choice matches their goal. Pacing is difficult enough to maintain—if the players want to find treasure, let them know before they search an abandoned building for six hours of play time that there's not much treasure there. Tell them where to go to get the gameplay they want. (Yes, but. . .)
• Let them know the stakes. Make sure you are honest with them about the consequences, even if the non-player character's are lying to them!* (What's in it for me. . .)
• If you told them, and more than 30 seconds have passed, you may tell them again. (Remember. . . )
• If the players ask a question, try to answer what they want to know. (No, but. . .)
• When dealing with authentic hidden information (how a trick or trap works), give them some sign of all irrevocable effects (Trick/Trap agency)
• Don't give the players blind choices. Always give some sort of information with the choice. A choice with no information to distinguish between the options isn't any sort of choice at all.

* Lots of confusion over this. This level of explicitness applies to letting them know the stakes—what does each option we may engage in tonight involve? What activities as people will these options allow us to engage in? When your friends are making that decision, you should not allow them to end up doing something for six hours they do not want to do, because of authentic uncertainty in the game world.

Freedom
This is a sword to player agency, since it empowers their choice. Without freedom, they are unable to make a choice with effects relating to their intent. This is critical since without choice, there is no game. (i.e. games are collections of interesting choices).

• The outcome of a situation in play should never be predetermined—one cannot decide ahead of time how the choice a player makes will play out, otherwise the player has no input and is therefore not engaged.
• Allow things to happen that have no bearing on the players or their interests. If everything in the world revolves around the players, how can they be free? More to the point, how can they ever see the effects (or lack thereof) without a living breathing world?
• One cannot dictate the actions of the player characters! Their control over their characters is sacrosanct territory, with only rare exceptions (magical control etc.)
• The freedom to ignore your plot hooks/adventure thread/situation is critical. Next time you play, look around you—those are actual human beings, not fleshy shells destined to act out what happens next in your fantasy. If they enter your rioting city, and decide to leave, let them get the hell out of there if they wish. . . just remember to let them experience the consequences of their agency.
• The invisible wall is anathema. Say Yes. . . or Say Yes, But. . . If you tell the players they can do anything and then continue to tell them no and no and no, well, they can't really do anything, can they?[1]
• This is ironic, but in order to encourage freedom, you have to limit options. You have to say, here are five tasks, so they can make a meaningful choice between the five—or reject them and forge their own. If you were to tell them "do anything you want" the excessive freedom limits their agency by making their choices meaningless.

[1] I blame America and its obsession with freedom on this dishonesty. The fact is, you can't do anything you want, and not only is it so important for us to believe we can that we constantly tell ourselves and our children that, but it causes massive social dysfunction (a lack of concern about behavior on community) and personal distress when faced with this reality.

Edit: The publication date was changed for appropriate tag display. The original publication date was 9/12/11

This content is available in print at Lulu and digitally from DTRPG.

---

Hack & Slash 

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

On Resurrecting the Quantum Ogre and Having Him Over for Tea

Image by Jeffrey V. Brimley

Yes but. . .

Tell the player the consequence of what will happen if he takes the action, before he takes the action. Do not play 'Gotcha!' 'You didn't say!' or 'Guess what I'm thinking!' games with the players.

"If you do that, you will be visible down the corridor. Do you still want to do that?"
"If you do that he will get to attack you, do you still wish to do that?"
"You can explore that entire building if you wish - there is stuff there - but if you're looking for treasure, there probably won't be much in that building"

What's in it for me. . .

If your players cannot make a decision because they lack information, give it to them!

"Maybe we shouldn't go there, he could just be saying he has a magic sword."
"He actually has a magic sword - if you do the quest he will get it and give it to you."

Remember. . .

It's not that they are stupid—it's that they have stressful jobs, kids, families, and lots of responsibilities other then gaming and can't spend as long as you making sure they remember ever last detail. That's your job.

1:"Are we going west or south."
2:"South has bugbears, maybe we should go west."
DM:"Well, south also has the temple, which has a lot of treasure in it, and also the cult leader you have been getting clues about lives there - and if you go west, you can't forget that griffons haunt the pass, as well as the inevitable mountain giants and their pet red dragons."
1:"Red Dragons?!"
DM:"Yes, but due to the curse from the yis-gothka, they-"
2:"Who"
DM:"The temple guys."
1:"Oh, I remember now - let's go get those giants."
DM:"Ok, so giants over treasure in the temple and the cult leader, correct?"

No, but. . .

Listen to your players. If they are asking questions they are telling you what they want to know. Don't ever only tell them no - always say the reason why you are telling them no, and provide them a path to accomplish what they want. Be realistic about what is possible and not, and allow them to deviate from what you envision for them.

"Can I get my horse raised?"
Restricted agency response: "No, you don't know how."
Pro-agency response: "Well, you don't know how, but you could pay a sage or ask at the temple and I'm sure they could tell you more if that's something you'd like to do. There are likely to be some drawbacks, and it will probably cost some gold."

Trick/Trap agency

There is an appropriate way to run a crushing ceiling. 

First, it must be clear that a deadly trap can happen. The game makes it easy, because usually this is the entrance or threshold into the underworld. It must be explicit that death or misfortune can occur. The players should be on their guard for this type of thing.

"This structure has stood for innumerable years, who knows what devious and arcane protections it may possess?"
"You see the sign of the devious kobolds, the hammers and gears of their deadly trapwork lay scattered about assuring a risky venture into the depths"

The second thing that must occur is that you must make the trap obvious. A good way to do this is to describe one or two unimportant things, with one important thing. Often the naturalistic effects of the trap will dictate this conversation.

"Ahead in the chamber is a cool breeze, dust swirls around on the floor and an earthen smell assaults your nose."
"I examine the dust and chamber."
"The dust appears to be finely ground stone, there are several dark stains within the room. On the walls scrapes and gouges run vertically up and down the walls. Do you wish to enter the room?"
"No. what do the stains look like?"
"They could be rust. . . or blood."
Party together "Collapsing ceiling."

Yes

When the players ask for something say yes!

And then give them three problems to go with it. There! Now they are having the adventure they want!

Yes, but. . .

When the players ask for something you can't give them, tell them what they need to do - both in and out of game turns.

"I'd like to learn that reduced facing skill that's so cool"
"Well, you'll have to ask a sage how to do that"
Player pays information tax
"Well, you have to go through the valley of the slow centipede, traverse the central forgehammer mountains, and seek out the Loydan monastery where there are monks who teach it. If everyone stays focused, it will take one session of hex travel, and one session of doing a quest for the monks - unless you have a better way to convince them to cooperate."

On misinterpretations of the nature of Agency

Examples:

"I should keep things secret from my players for realism! Because sometimes people lie! They shouldn't know if the guy has an actual magic sword or not before they do the quest!"

What's the result here—you being their only source of knowledge have tricked them into doing something just so you can laugh at them taking your word?  Is that why people play Dungeons and Dragons?

"They should have listened when I told them about the duke, and then know he was lying to them!"

They are other human beings who are busy and in a room with 2-8 of their peers that they like and haven't seen in a week or longer. It is not conducive to catching every last detail. They are there to play a game, not hang on every offhand word.

"You said you should tell your players when the non-player character's are lying to them! You are a terrible Dungeon Master and must have no skills if you can't communicate this information in game! If you can't drop clues so they can figure it out, you are a terrible person and a worse Dungeon Master!"

First, that advice is about clearing up adventure hooks for the party—so they can make an informed decision as people about what they want to do tonight in your game. Clearly based on the other advice in the article I am not advocating that the players be informed of everything by out of character talking. 

Second, Leaving 'really good clues' around everywhere and expecting players to guess your intent is not 'skillful' play. In fact, forcing the players to play mind reading games and 'guess what I'm thinking' are exactly what this type of article is aimed at addressing. 

There is no way for a group of random human beings to know what your baseline expectations are for a situation—how often have we been surprised by how another person deals with something? If you don't give them information, and you're not explicit about it, then you are destroying their agency. It isn't necessary to tell them how to solve the puzzle, but letting them know there's a puzzle and what the pieces are seems an appropriate approach if you want a puzzle solved. 

"There's nothing fun about blind luck! And if you don't fudge the dice and alter the story that's what it comes down to!"

If you never let anything bad happen to the characters, I understand why it seems that way. The reason it doesn't all come down to blind luck is player skill. The skill comes in creating a situation where the fate of the whole party doesn't rely on a single dice roll. If your players are often in a situation where it all comes down to blind luck it's because anytime something bad has happened, you've protected them from the consequence, so why would they try anything different? As long as you are there to pull their fat from the fire, they will engage in every combat knowing they can't lose. In the long run this is less satisfying then winning a victory against the authentic chance of a loss.

"But I can't let them destroy the epic encounter at the climax of the adventure by a lucky roll!"

Think about it. The example of Beedo's players causing Strahd's death wasn't the result of a lucky roll—it was the result of planning, thought and skill of the players that created the situation that allowed the roll. They used player skill to make the opponent's fate rely on a single die roll. Making them fight some long battle is taking away from the very epicness of the situation! Beedo's players will be talking about how they killed Strahd for much longer than any of his other 'boss fights'. Because it was their plan, it was real, it mattered, and it stuck.

The real key to this is, it swings both ways.

"But if they don't have this encounter - they won't experience my precious plot."

So?

"They have to have this encounter or the game just won't work."

Is this because of fear of having to adapt or figure out what the players want?  The thing is, if you have a key encounter, and you give it to them, and they refuse it—forcing them to have it doesn't improve the situation. Also, if you're giving them half a dozen options—there isn't a way to tie many of them into a plot one way or another?

"There's no right way to run a game. My players have control over the world and we do improv storytelling, and everything is tied into their story!"

Yes, believe it or not, I've run games like that before—where players know their plot arc, and have script immunity, and it's about drama and acting. That is not D&D. It's not structured that way—it's a game, and one with fairly clear expectations and rules. You can certainly change up and add to D&D—it's designed that way. But this is a blog about the game of old-school D&D, the type where you don't name your fighter till level 3, and it's structured around exploring dungeons and clearing hexes. I'm glad you are having fun, but be clear about your house rules being house rules—if you say that characters can just say anything and have it be true in improv style; That text doesn't contain a the rule about characters making up story elements as a part of play.

"Newer games give you lots of agency, because there are lots of rules. And you don't just use those rules to make your character, in the game you have lots of different options during combat, meaning your making lots of decisions and choices, and those choices matching your intent! That's player agency also"

Of course. Chess has a ton of player agency, in the realm of tactical and strategic options of a board game. I play lots of boardgames and tactical strategy games and they are lots of fun. Again, not Dungeons & Dragons though (no matter what people call it) and that's what I'm focused on providing agency in.

"If I have a wandering monster table with 1 encounter and a 100% chance of that encounter - how is that different then the quantum ogre?"

Cute. Well, the original article postulated 3 options (groves of trees), and a DM that no matter what the party did, found the ogre in the first one, and the mcguffin in the last one the party entered. And there was nothing they could do to change or avoid the outcome. 

This strawman assumes that all improvisation on the part of the Dungeon Master is negative. Clearly there are appropriate times to do all of the things that I recommend against doing. Older editions even contained rules to bypass the need to do them! A classic example is morale. In Pathfinder, if the party has clearly won the fight, and there are just a few orcs left, having a player kill one instead of leaving it with one hit point is a perfectly acceptable time to fudge the dice, because the outcome doesn't matter. All you are doing is facilitating interesting choices, instead of uninteresting ones. In earlier editions they would have already fled due to morale failure.

You will spring an encounter on the PC's You will roll sometimes and ignore it. You will dictate player actions. Just always be sure to do so in a way that maintains agency. ("Well, unless you two are interested in playing homosexual characters—we're going to re-roll on the how did you meet table", "You set up camp and turn in for the night")

"I don't want a bunch of random things happening! I want a story!"

Two things. First, is that all the randomness in a sandbox is supposed to simulate expected things—don't put ice worms on your volcano encounter table.

Secondly, the idea is that the events and choices of the players are the things that we look back on and tell stories about. These stories aren't about the plot, but about the thing that's greater that's shared between a group of people. The sandbox is a living breathing world. No prescriptive outcomes, no predetermined plots. Whatever you have in mind, can only be improved by the shared creativity and experience of other people.

"The players don't know the difference! I can lie to them all I want! There's no difference between a quantum ogre and a wandering encounter."

Have you ever seen the film where they underestimate the audience? Notice how all the best films don't do that?

"Everything in my game has to have a purpose!"

The unspoken part is—of your design. How about you let the player purpose themselves into your game?

Edit: The date was changed for appropriate tag display. The original Publication date was 9/13/2011.

This content is available in print at Lulu and digitally from DTRPG.

---

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