Scenario: Q&A

[dmw71]

Here is where any/everyone can share their thoughts/contributions/ideas on the to-be-used scenario.

[Leitz]

Here is where my brain wandered off to

A faint morning breeze, chilly and from the west, blew a scent of...something?

The small village was as your patron described; establishments of ill repute closest to you and a religious edifice at the far side of the village. Various businesses between, moving upscale as you approached the divine. Surely there was a message there? Outside of the nominal business district lay a dozen or two residences, with a fruit orchard on the far right and a wide, slow moving river on the far left.

Coming in early was best, some things really needed the light of day to deal with. Your patron had no idea why their messages hadn't been returned for the last six months, and they were willing to pay good money to find out. They were also smart enough to realize that some parts of the world were a bit more than the average messenger could handle, and that's why they found you. This particular village was the last bastion of the faded idea of civilization; there were any number of reasons for the lack of response.

Pro Tip: If you're looking at a normal village and you don't see anyone moving around, something is definitely wrong.

You knew where the patron's family was supposed to be. You had traded a few favors and gotten names of good contacts here, people who might be amendable to sharing information, if the price was right. You had also heard that a few folks liked being left alone here, and they could make trouble. Best to approach with care.

DM Notes
How do the PC's approach? How might they gain information about where the enemy is, and what their forces are like? What allies and enemies can they make before facing the major threat?

[Leitz]

One idea is that the main encournter be far enough from the village that the PCs just can't walk in and attack, nor can spell casters speak with animals or whatever and skip talking to people in the village. Not knowing who lives where, the PCs must talk to someone and be at risk for first encountering the wrong someone.

[Rex]

We could use this as a location. This is a free PDF from an excellent web site that does free fannon for HarnWorld and HarnMaster. This is a generic manor that could be used as a location. There are even some adventure hooks, but we could go with something else and just use the location. It is system neutral.

https://www.lythia.com/adventures/fortified-manor/

[Pulpatoon]

How do the PC's approach? How might they gain information about where the enemy is, and what their forces are like? What allies and enemies can they make before facing the major threat?

If we want to keep these scenarios short, sweet, and focused, I'd suggest we start in media res.

• {PC Party} and {NPC Party} are both in {Location 1} in pursuit of {Macguffin}.
• Both Parties are in competition, and {NPC Party} is suspicious and prepared for hostility.
• {NPC Party is equivalent in ability and size to {PC Party}
• Negotiations may resolve amicably or in combat.
• {Location 1} should have some tactical interest: areas of cover, pinch points, etc.
• The {MacGuffin} is in {Location 2}. To access {Location 2}, the Party/ies must negotiate {Puzzle, Trap, or Environmental Obstacle}.
• At some point, the Party/ies will be surprised by a {Big Bad Monster}.

A bare-bones scaffold like this allows the ref to tailor things to the strengths and flavor of their ruleset, and hopefully allows for enough variation that being in multiple scenarios doesn't feel like Groundhog Day the RPG.

[Leitz]

I would avoid the NPC party as a part of the scenario design template. A DM can put one in, but for me, I dislike the idea intensely. If it works for others, great.

[dmw71]

We could use this as a location. This is a free PDF from an excellent web site that does free fannon for HarnWorld and HarnMaster.

This is really cool! Good share.

[Pulpatoon]

I would avoid the NPC party as a part of the scenario design template. A DM can put one in, but for me, I dislike the idea intensely. If it works for others, great.

We began with the idea of a scenario involving rp and combat, with the suggestion that a negotiation could be a quick way to bridge the two. But, of course, there are lots of other ways to pair the two. Could you speak to what you dislike about the negotiation scenario so that we can take that into account in development?

[Rex]

For interaction/social we need some sort of NPC's I would think. There doesn't have to be combat with the NPC's if that is the concern. I like the puzzle/trap/environmental obstacle as well.

[Rex]

We may want to start putting up DM names with the name of the rules sub-forum just to keep track of them.

[Leitz]

We began with the idea of a scenario involving rp and combat, with the suggestion that a negotiation could be a quick way to bridge the two. But, of course, there are lots of other ways to pair the two. Could you speak to what you dislike about the negotiation scenario so that we can take that into account in development?

I'm all for NPC interaction, and I put a few hooks in the scenario draft. Imagine the irony, as I'm an introvert.

On a competing NPC group, there are a few reasons I'd not use one.

• Their timeline is artificial, there is no "fog of adventure" since the DM knows what's going on.
• A smart PC group would be aware of competitors, and thus would scope out the other group. For a scenario, that's a lot of prep-work on the part of the players and the DM. In effect, its own game.
• A peer level NPC group could significantly weaken the PCs by causing the expenditure of consumable spells, ammo, and healing.
• Artificially pushing up the time-line by competition makes the smart move of "recon the threat before charging in" less likely to happen. In effect, it pushes the PC group to a game of pure chance vice actual research, planning, and preparation.
• It's possible that the PC group could enlist/coerce/charm the NPC group into participation. While fun, that means any well practiced PC group is going to have a major dynamic changer and someone will spend much of the game as a manager, not fighter/mage/investigator.

For scenarios, I prefer to build the tension in via isolation (the group can't just run home) and negative events (the longer they delay, the worse things get). For example, in the village description, no one was out and about. There's no description of why, but most "good" characters will be inclined to worry about innocent lives being lost, beautiful maidens being sacrificed to dark gods, etc. So there is some tension for the DM to leverage without the extra work and distraction of an NPC group.

[Rex]

If using a town, manor, village whatever as part of the scenario I would prefer it to be populated and functioning. That ups the potential interactions significantly. In a scenario like this I suspect we can't avoid railroading some, but I would prefer to keep it to a minimum.

[dmw71]

Here is where my brain wandered off to

A faint morning breeze, chilly and from the west, blew a scent of...something?

The small village was as your patron described; establishments of ill repute closest to you and a religious edifice at the far side of the village. Various businesses between, moving upscale as you approached the divine. Surely there was a message there? Outside of the nominal business district lay a dozen or two residences, with a fruit orchard on the far right and a wide, slow moving river on the far left.

This is really well-written. And it's for that reason that I reserved commenting on it yesterday and wanted to sleep on my response.

I think this is the type of thing the individual GM will eventually come up with on their own... from the more skeletal criteria we provide them.

If we want to keep these scenarios short, sweet, and focused, I'd suggest we start in media res.

• {PC Party} and {NPC Party} are both in {Location 1} in pursuit of {Macguffin}.
• Both Parties are in competition, and {NPC Party} is suspicious and prepared for hostility.
• {NPC Party is equivalent in ability and size to {PC Party}
• Negotiations may resolve amicably or in combat.
• {Location 1} should have some tactical interest: areas of cover, pinch points, etc.
• The {MacGuffin} is in {Location 2}. To access {Location 2}, the Party/ies must negotiate {Puzzle, Trap, or Environmental Obstacle}.
• At some point, the Party/ies will be surprised by a {Big Bad Monster}.

A bare-bones scaffold like this allows the ref to tailor things to the strengths and flavor of their ruleset, and hopefully allows for enough variation that being in multiple scenarios doesn't feel like Groundhog Day the RPG.

Something like the above is more in line with what I was thinking.

NPCs will definitely need to be included (how else will there be a negotiation/social interactions?), but I'm not sure making a directly competing NPC party should be a requirement?

[Rex]

I agree with all of Daves comments. In particular I have been thinking about it and I really feel an outline like Pulpatoon is the best way to go. This will allow each DM to put their own spin/style on it and that will help to keep it fresher for the players who are likely to play the scenario with multiple DM's and systems (me ).

[GreyWolfVT]

FWIW I quite like Pulpatoons proposed scenario.

[dmw71]

Brainstorming

Crossing an unsteady rope bridge.

Climbing
Jumping

Grappling.

Non-lethal damage.

Searching for physical clues or evidence.
Opening a lock.
Detecting a trap.
Disarming a trap.

Sneaking
Hiding


Attempting to influence someone via:

Convincing someone of something (e.g. persuasion)
Intimidation
Lying to someone (e.g. deception)

Fortune telling (divination)





Faire/Tournament
I actually really dislike this idea in normal practice, but I'm going to share it anyway as I think it (or something like it) might work well for these purposes.

What is that (military?) saying?

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

When our goal is to specifically test how certain things are handled in various game systems, we're putting a lot at risk by introducing a scenario to follow. Even a detailed one.


To best guarantee that the games for each different ruleset hit all the different targets, we could have each game host a faire or tournament, or something that allows for multiple, individual contests.

Feats of luck.
Feats of strength.
Feats of skill.

There could be jousting or dueling.
Gladiator-style battles.
Archery competition.
There could be pick-pockets.
Attempts to bribe judges.
Eating contests.


I don't know?

[GreyWolfVT]

I like where you are going there Dave.

Kind of like the Archery contest Robin Hood enters. But you would need other events that other stats could contribute to. As you mention Joust, like Knights Tale we can have Jousting, and that hand to hand combat event they did. I'm sure even something like a tug of war or gambit type of thing from First Knight called the gauntlet. I'm sure we could even have something for magic using types to "test their skill" in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1SXJh2f2ng

[Pulpatoon]

On a competing NPC group, there are a few reasons I'd not use one.

• Their timeline is artificial, there is no "fog of adventure" since the DM knows what's going on.
• A smart PC group would be aware of competitors, and thus would scope out the other group. For a scenario, that's a lot of prep-work on the part of the players and the DM. In effect, its own game.
• A peer level NPC group could significantly weaken the PCs by causing the expenditure of consumable spells, ammo, and healing.
• Artificially pushing up the time-line by competition makes the smart move of "recon the threat before charging in" less likely to happen. In effect, it pushes the PC group to a game of pure chance vice actual research, planning, and preparation.
• It's possible that the PC group could enlist/coerce/charm the NPC group into participation. While fun, that means any well practiced PC group is going to have a major dynamic changer and someone will spend much of the game as a manager, not fighter/mage/investigator.

These are excellent points, and denote good adventure design. I think the difference may come down to a sense of scale. I'm imagining these being very short trial-runs of the various systems—measured in weeks. To achieve something that succinct, a degree of artifice is necessary.

However, if people are thinking longer term, it's a whole different ball of wax.

If "NPC Party" is too specific, how about "Rival group?" It could be a bunch of goblins or bandits or wolves. As long as they want the same thing the PC's want. The important thing is that you can negotiate with them, and there is the possibility of multiple-opponent combat to contrast with Big Bad combat.

[dmw71]

I like where you are going there Dave.

Kind of like the Archery contest Robin Hood enters. But you would need other events that other stats could contribute to. As you mention Joust, like Knights Tale we can have Jousting, and that hand to hand combat event they did. I'm sure even something like a tug of war or gambit type of thing from First Knight called the gauntlet. I'm sure we could even have something for magic using types to "test their skill" in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1SXJh2f2ng

A few things to keep in mind. (Something I often find myself struggling with, personally.) This is open to non-fantasy games as well, so there may be modern-day spy games, or western, or space-faring/sci-fi games.

Designing a gauntlet is kind of cool idea. And maybe it could be the responsibility of a GM not running a fantasy style game to skin or theme the gauntlet to their genre?

But...

Every single character (of any class) would need to go through the same contest. A "fighter" class would certainly fail a test requiring magic; likewise, a spellcasting class is likely to fail in a contest of strength against a more martial class.

It's tricky.

[GreyWolfVT]

Yes, I realize I kind of specified fantasy but spies can run through a gauntlet of sorts as well. Such as getting through a laser field, dropping down from a ceiling, hacking a computer.

Sci-fi/western could have similar contests. A shooting contest or "gallery" similar to a show I used to watch called TopShot. You can apply similar things to futuristic Sci-Fi I'm sure with the creative people in this community we can come up with similar things "testing skills and feats of things".