Now, for all of you who have always accused WotC of having writers do Class Guides without having an inkling of what they are writing about just as long as it sounds good, or that Dragon articles are written by random bespectacled overweight men who have the ability to make really crappy swordmagi?
Hey, you are god damned right.
---> Last Saturday was fun. I ran "Kings of Morose Hill" (a DnD adventure set in Morose, Caen) for my brother and a few of our friends.
For me personally, I felt that it turned out rather well. As I had not DMed for quite some time and now that my original campaign has been derailed for the time being, I decided to test out several ideas I had previously planned to debut in Chapter Two.
- Visual Progression Skill Challenges - I went with Skill Challenges that showed the encounter's progress by flinging (yes, flinging) colored chips onto the table. (red- failure, blue,green,yellow-success). Any good idea that a player comes up with during the encounter but does not fall into the success/fail categories gets a +2 one-off token that can be used to modify a single skill check in that ongoing Skill Challenge. With this new system, the players were up for it, and the visuals of two red chips on the table - knowing that a third will automatically fail the Challenge- is priceless. Gaining the one-off token put a smile on their faces and let them know that participation pays off.
- Less Linear Skill Challenges - The ones I experimented with were less linear and could encompass many skills if needed. I saw a marked improvement in the players' participation, and I felt the challenges progressed more naturally, and that the new design smoothened out previous kinks in the system. Overall, I think the updated Skill Challenges worked, and even though I had to spend more time designing them; it brought me one step closer to refining a less constrictive system where the players can feel free to do what they feel is right and not feel stifled by the rules.
- Initiative Cards - These 4x4 plain calling cards helped tons with Readying and Delaying sequences. I will invert an initiative card when a player/creature delays, or turn the card sideways if they readied an action. Whenever a Delayed Turn or a Ready action triggers, the appropriate initiative card will then be placed on top of the current creature's card. Personally, it made my DMing more manageable, and with less effort needed, I can concentrate more on tactical or role-playing options available. I will improve it by placing vital stats (HP, AC, NADs?) of the creature on the card itself instead of always having to refer to my notes.
I also learnt several things along the way.
- Length of One-Off? The session started at midnight and ended at about half past five in the morning, which is approximately five hours. We were getting close to a conclusion in the second quest, but that might have taken another forty minutes or so to wrap up. Thus, my "One-Off" time estimation is still not good even thought I had more than a One-Off in mind when I wrote this adventure, which might have caused several discrepancies.
- Custom items (Magical/Mundane) - They are fun and add flavor and lore to an adventure. Some can even turn out to be useful in other ways when the right opportunity arises.
- "Fun" Factor - No harm done to slightly over-power the players, a mob or even an event if it results in creating a memorable scene. Of course, the premise cannot be too far-fetched (not hard to do in an already mythical world of sword and sorcery), so experiment and find the right amount of pizazz and fun to add to your DnD sessions.
---> Lest I forget, Christmas is just around the corner, so a loud and boisterous "Merry Christmas" to all four of you my faithful readers out there.
Drive carefully, avoid opportunity attacks if possible, and enjoy yourselves. C'yall on the flip side.
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