Dungeons and Logic

Dungeons are definitely the fun part of the game for everyone. The DM usually enjoys it because it makes prep work a cinch! Players love it because the action is more fluid and they make for lots of opportunities for decisions to be made.

With mapping software available for free all over the web, constructing maps is much easier today then it was back when I first started. We did have some tricks to doing it, besides the good ol’ fashioned graph paper. Namely this was stealing maps from published modules and re-keying the things. You could make them new or old, wealthy or deserted for eons, the possibilities are near infinite!

Today, people kind of tend to go crazy. You can, literally drive yourself cross-eyed considering all of the dungeon logic. Many Dungeon Masters keep a set pull-list of monsters for different areas, while others ponder the very deep workings of the dungeon world itself. Me personally could give a rats tail about it. The most important thing that I consider is always what works fast and easy. I do have my own tricks though.

DUNGEON LIFE

The first question that I ask myself when starting is what lives here? If I have an idea, or I already told the players what they are supposed to be looking for, then I don’t have a problem, but if I’m in a saucy mood and want to keep things random, then I’ll roll a monster at random from my notes. This is easier for me since I play in the World of Greyhawk, and the random encounter lists are complete. If this isn’t the case for you, the Monstrous Compendium Volume 2 has a complete listing of Random Encounters for a veriety of settings.

The monster that I roll is the dominate monster in this dungeon. It has conquered this place and lives in it, at least for the time being. Its laws are the way, naturally with wild animals also living in the place, some areas will be too dangerous for the humanoids to live (if it is a humanoid), these areas will probably be avoided, and may incorporate a trap of some kind as it is considered a natural hazard. A simple lure to trick others who aren’t so savvy as them, to wander into the hazard and get themselves killed.

DUNGEON SIZE

We also have to figure out how big we want the thing to be. Many random dungeon generators, such as the one which I sometimes use from the first edition DMG, will go on for days with no end in sight. We have to figure out how deep we want to go with this, and how big of an area that we want to take up. This is best figured out before we even put the digital pencil to paper. A large dungeon will support more life then a small one, and there may be more dominate creatures down there fighting it out about who is in control. If you want to make a rivalry, then simply roll another random encounter check and find out what the second most dangerous thing down there is.

FOOD & PROPERTY

Now we start moving into some headache area here. This is where some DMs like to give themselves trouble, but they are on the right track! Food is a basic need that our monsters can’t live without! Depending on the monster, and their ability to adapt their environments around them, offers us different questions and problems. The simplest answer is looking at the definition in the Monster Manual, the MM will tell you their basic life strategies. Most monsters steal for a living, they find weaker beings who are good at raising their own food, and they take it.

It is rare to find monsters who keep their own stock of underground meat, they just don’t know how to feed and maintain animals like that. Hell, they don’t wash themselves and rely on inhuman constitution to survive. The dungeon world is one filled with disease and rotten icky things because of our next consideration.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

What does the monster do with its waste? The answer is usually that this is somebody else’s problem. A monster will move in and use up every available resource that it can, and then it will move on to a new hovel. Of course, this sets the scene for a new monster to take over the dungeon, and brand new dangers. A fun dungeon can be one that has been abandoned. Not only will they leave their mess behind, which will cause the place to be a haven for new nastiness that lives off of stuff like that, but they will also leave their sick, injured, and weak behind as well. These things will be extremely dangerous, as they are starving and terrified, perhaps even mad from loneliness and confinement.

WATER

Part of my Quick & Easy mentality dictates that, for the most part, monsters are like pirates. They are typically as drunk and as lazy as possible, of course I mix it up so that nobody can tell what I’m doing. I’ll give some monsters a need or an industry of some kind, this way it is harder to tell what I’m doing behind the screen.

Water is a basic necessity for us, and for lots of creatures, however for the most part, a bunch of stinky monsters would turn their nose up at it. They would rather have booze and only bathe by happenstance. If there is a water supply, some monsters would love to just sit there and throw stuff in it for entertainment, same thing with really deep holes. If a monster is really destructive, such as the Troll, then after the creature leaves the water will be no good, and this could effect the upper world if we want it to.

A monster who depends on water would treat a water-source like gold, and defend it to the death unless another source was known. Water is a good place for natural hazards, the monsters who depend upon it will keep the ones who don’t out of that area, and use them to keep intruders out. Most humanoids will leave aquatic nightmares completely alone! This logic keeps our water supplies untainted unless it serves us to do otherwise.

WHY AIN’T THIS HOLE INFESTED WITH DWARFS?

Another thing to consider, before putting the pen to paper and drawing out your map, is to figure out what this hole is for. Who built it? Is it natural or was it constructed by someone or something?

The word Dungeon, as we use it, is a very confusing thing if you think about it. Rarely do we ever create dungeons that are really dungeons! For the most part, we could care less who made it, but sometimes it can be fun to figure it out. Was it an ancient culture? Even this question can bring some different answers, what with all of the demi-humans running around. Why did they move out, or abandon it? It could be a mystery as we all have similar problems here on this planet. This also can be used to figure out what the holes original purpose was. Was it a mine? A basement to some long forgotten and quite absent castle? Was it a secret church? A tomb? Perhaps remnants of ancient astronauts; with fantasy, anything is possible. A look into our own history gives us many of factual reasons why a large underground superstructure would be made.

While we must know who is the current holders of the dungeon, it can also be beneficial to know who, or what held it before they did; and how long ago had it been sitting. Has it been looted? If it’s got monsters, then the answer is probably yes. The questions are endless, but there is just something about building our own dungeon that lends to these creative decisions.

We can create mystery with open-ended scenarios and rooms which don’t belong, so just because something doesn’t make sense on the outside, we can hint at things which may or may not be. We must try to do our best NOT to over think the fun out of these things. We don’t want to know everything, but we should know just enough to make it look like we do.

A good game

What are the things every good game should have? My thoughts:

1.Interesting characters.
2.Events propelled by the characters' specific actions and reactions.
3.Multi-level conflicts(physical/emotional/mental/spiritual/symbolic, etc).
4.Character revealed by decisive actions and tough decisions.
5.Character development/growth/progression
6.Visual, action-oriented stories.
7.Sense of wonder
8.Resolutions with a sense of hope
9.Insight into some aspect of the human condition
10.Some unique element.

The Philosophy of Character Building

How can you use the Socratic Method to create a good character? let me explain how I use a series of questions to help myself and my players create dynamic personalities for their characters.

But wait, Everybody Knows how to make a character for an RPG right? Pick your race, assign your points, pick your special abilities and then come up with a backstory that will explain him/her being in the party. throughout my time as a DM I have heard people explain their characters like this:

“My character is a Brutal Warrior whose only desire is glory on the battlefield. He hates orcs and is chaotic neutral”

“My character is an outcast dwarf who seeks redemption and honor in helping others”

Both of these are excellent starts and are seeds that could grow into dynamic characters. However, these backstories are very broad and while they speak volumes about where the character has been and their large scale goals, they don’t really reveal much of a personality. I think often in games people are told to create a history for their character but not a persona. Where a character has been and what they have done informs their personality of course but it does not define it.

Due to the emphasis on a character’s history instead of personality many characters suffer from an inconsistency of behavior or what I call “situational personality disorder” (SPD). You have all seen this, a character has up until that point not engaged in X behavior or expressed any leanings towards X but since the campaign now requires it in order to overcome a challenge the character shifts his or her behavior to fit the situation. I believe that in many cases this occurs because the player never established what the character would do in morally ambiguous situations. The answers to the questions that follow form a frame of reference which can help the player react to situations in a manner consistent with a dynamic (realistic) personality.

These questions take the character from a collection of characteristics and abilities on a sheet to a unique individual that the players will feel more inclined to play with consistency of behavior, almost like they are doing the character wrong by not following what their personality would desire. These questions also create a framework in which they can think like their characters instead of thinking only in terms of game practicality.

Question Examples:

how does the character feel about killing? is it ever justified? does he feel that monsters can be killed with impunity but not humans? what about Dwarves, Elves, Aliens, etc?

What is the role of the law in the character’s mind? is it for the good of all? does it stifle freedom? is it the tyranny of government? does the character obey the law? what kind of situation does it take for the character to commit serious crimes?

does the character believe in higher powers? what does character believe he owes the gods?

how does the character think of those higher in society? Lower? what does the character think of his/her place?

what about the opposite sex? Strait, Gay/lesbian? are the opposite sex to be protected or to be manipulated?

how loyal is the character to his/her word?

how does the character feel about other adventurers? does he/she seek camaraderie or just the accomplishment of personal goals?

Does the character care about the opinions of others?

does the character want to find love?

does the character have a family? wife/husband/Lover? where are they? what are they doing?

why did the character join his profession? is his profession in line with his class or was he a farmer until he became a fighter to defend his home from bandits?

these questions are just a small sampling of the questions I ask my players to answer when making a character. I tailor them depending on the vague backstory they give me and the setting I plan to run.

I have met with a lot of success using this system. The players have often created memorable characters they love to play. Using this system I have actually seen long time dungeon crawlers try to skip through combat to get to character interactions.

Play a character you can role-play

What I find is that many players choose characters based on back story and combat but never think about whether or not they will be able to effectively roleplay or enjoy that character’s personality. That is not to say you should never role play a challenging character or try anything new but you should consider whether or not you want a challenge or something that comes naturally. In my own games I discourage shy players from playing the party leader until they get more comfortable roleplaying.

Another example of what I am talking about is a friend, she never plays characters that are overly flirtatious or manipulative in demeanor because she can’t keep a straight face and starts laughing. She doesn’t really enjoy tripping over her words and not being able to roleplay it well so she doesn’t play characters with that type of personality.

If you feel that you can't role play the character, you should not even make the character.

My recommendation is to take care when choosing characters for yourself and your players. Make sure to be supportive of players who want to try new things and grow in their roleplaying but also steer players towards personalities you know they will enjoy playing. This way even if the character is difficult for them to roleplay they will be more enthusiastic and likely to try their best.

The Lone Wolf

So you’ve made your character and your so excited for your new rebel without a cause, he’s inspired by Jayne from Firefly or your favorite badass from fiction and he doesn’t take sh*t from anybody. He wanders the world keeping an eye out for number one, he’s probably chaotic neutral and will never do anything without substantial personal gain involved. To put it simply hes a lone wolf, the down to earth self interested hero that we love so much in American pop culture. Well guess what, you just created one of the most notorious problem characters in roleplay, second only to the chaotic evil sociopath.

My judgement of these characters may seem harsh but I know from experience both playing and storytelling that there are fundamental flaws in the lone wolf / self interested character. First foremost the lone wolf does not get along well with others. The lone wolf archetype does not like taking orders and he doesn’t liking people depending on him making him a difficult character that usually throws a wrench in game flow. In many situations you will either have to sacrifice your roleplay to get along with the party OR you will extort the party for extra shares of treasure OR always suggest that whatever you are dealing with isn’t your problem. Many a game I have played where the party couldn’t roleplay to the fullest because they didn’t want to deal with the lone wolf telling them that he had no interest in saving the town from undead without coin.

Which brings me to my next point: even in games where the players aren’t intrinsically ”good” the party will usually get wrapped up in a quest or arc that involves sacrifice, selflessness, and periods without direct rewards for their actions. The lone wolf character is hesitant to trust in his allies and undertake dangerous quests that seem hopeless or overly risky compared to the rewards. Now most of my anger about this archetype is because players model these characters after their favorite anti heroes without watching the end of the movie. In westerns for example the lone wolf who never cared about anybody but himself has an epiphany. After which he decides to make a stand for the weak and the helpless even at great personal risk. It is this transformation from a very flawed and selfish character to a hero that makes the anti hero so attractive to the American psyche, the anti hero is accessible and human.

So my advice to you is that if you like to play lone wolves remember that there are other people at the table besides you. Remember that you chose to stay with the party so you should roleplay your character accordingly, don’t act like the party has to convince you to stay. Finally remember that the characters of any roleplay game are heroes and while they may be good, evil or neutral they are always doing great deeds. A character who walks through the campaign uttering the phrase “it’s not my problem” will rarely do great deeds.

6 Ways D&D is not Like Medival Times

One of the things I always enjoy thinking about are the subtle ways in which D&D worlds must be more like our modern one than like the medieval Europe they are frequently patterned after. Here are 6 ways D&D worlds are like our own.

1. Time
Historically knowing the hour of the day was being very accurate. In D&D there are many common magics with times measured in minutes or seconds. Adventures would have a sense of time that was absolutely unheard of historically.

2. Literacy
How often do you meet an illiterate person in a D&D world? Usually infrequently enough that it really stands out. Of course, in the real world outside of nobility and clergy being literate was uncommon.

3. Accuracy
One of the things that goes hand in hand with literacy is the demand for accuracy. In oral cultures it is expected that stories will change with each teller; the point of stories is not to give an exact retelling, but rather to evoke similar emotions. But in most D&D worlds there is a very modern notion of accuracy.

4. Freedom
Slavery in D&D worlds is usually a plot point that spells E-V-I-L, and serfdom is unheard of. Both were very common and not frowned upon historically.

5. Money
I know there are some DMs who do an awesome job at bring real barter into the game; most, including me, just let the coinage do all the work. Moreover, I frequently just tell player to pay the book price for items rather than try to role play each shop keeper. Obviously having store that deal only in money at standardized prices is not historical.

6. Racism
Though I won’t deny there are certain types of racism in D&D, in another way it is really limited. Basically, all the good races are incredibly chummy. Sure the dwarves and elves get on each others nerves, but you don’t see the elves wearing white sheets or the dwarves running death camps. Considering that historically people have started killing each other over the tiniest of differences, this niceness is unreal.

Player Responsibilities

I’ve known a fair number of gamers who believe that the DM is the person almost entirely responsible for a gaming group’s good time. If a group is faltering or not as fun as expected, fingers point toward the DM before anyone else. But what about the players and our responsibilities to the group?

Players outnumber the DM, and while the DM may set up the paths through the world, players decide where to go, what the tone of the game will be, and create the story being told through our actions. So in that vein, I’d like to present a list of my most important player responsibilities.

1) Be a team player. Gestalt has already written about the futility of lone wolves, and I couldn’t agree with him more. Those characters may seem really cool, but they just don’t work in a group setting. If your character’s opinions are constantly at odds with the rest of the party, every minor action becomes a struggle. You can have an independent spirit, but a true lone wolf wouldn’t ever join an adventuring party, so you will need to cooperate and work as a team. Digging in your figurative heels at every party decision, though, ends up being childish and can ruin a good campaign.

2) Don’t create a character that is more powerful than the others in the group. I realize that there is vast potential in the character creation systems (especially with loopholes) for becoming a mighty steamroller of enemy-smiting, and that some cannot resist that siren song. If all the others players in your campaign roll this way too, then more power to you. However, if your group’s other players prefer to roll characters with flaws, or simply don’t like to min-max, your steamroller character will now give your DM migraines. You create an impossible situation in which the DM can either make enemies challenging for you and risk killing the other players, or make the enemy difficulty balanced for the rest of the team and let you shred them like tissue. Either way, for the balancing difficulty, it’s a situation where you have ruined the fun for the other players, who now either die or don’t get to feel useful the party anymore.

3) Know yourself, and know the type of game you’re getting into. For instance, Pensive has extreme dislike for any and all White Wolf systems. Clearly, knowing this about himself, it would be a terrible idea to join a group playing any of those systems. Think about the tone of the game and the personalities of people involved. If you like a game that has more social and puzzle aspects than combat, talk to the members of your group to find out if their campaign fits with what you like about gaming. You don’t want to find out 10 sessions in that they prefer a straight dungeon-crawl and will never get around to your favorite bits. This doesn’t mean that anyone’s play style is superior or inferior, but if you aren’t a good fit for the game being run, it’s best for you and for everyone to know that ahead of time. And the most important part of knowing yourself is knowing when you’ve stopped enjoying an aspect of the game you’re in, and figuring out how to make it fun again. Often for me this is realizing that the new character class that looked intriguing is not my style. Talking to the DM is always the best course here. You can always just have the DM kill off you character with style as Pensive once mentioned, and start fresh with something more fun.

I could add more to this list, but these are my most important three. So how about the rest of you? Are there things that you would think are player responsibilities to make a campaign great for everyone?

Happy gaming,