Dungeon Design Tips: Ticking Time Clocks, And Wizard Bullets

There is a common complaint among many Game Masters that players ride roughshod over their dungeons and encounters without any serious challenge. Things are just too easy, and there's rarely any real risk to them. However, once Game Masters start pulling back the curtain, it becomes clear they're leaving out an important aspect of the game... namely, that sometimes things need to be done quickly.

For more installments of this series, check out:

- Consider Removing Doors From Your Dungeon

- Combine Combat With Traps

- Cover, Firing Lines, and Dynamic Arenas

- Antagonist Action Economy (Never Fight Just One BBEG)

- Pay Attention To The Environment

Seriously, it makes a difference...

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

A Timer Makes A Big Difference!

Now, before we get going on this, it's important to remember that not all events should have a ticking time clock on them. Sometimes the party should be allowed to take their time, explore, and go at their own pace. However, time should be treated as a resource in an RPG, and like any resource it should be finite. Not only that, it should be more finite in particular instances than others as a way of creating additional challenge.

For some examples, consider the following situations:

- The party must reach the heart of the Shrine of Eternal Storms... but it is only ever accessible for 3 days out of a year. If they fail in their quest, they will either need to escape and wait another year, or they will be trapped inside!

- A jailbreak is happening tonight! They need to get themselves, and a specific fellow prisoner, out... preferably before the guards realize what's happening!

- A force of the dread warlock Al-Kazir is approaching the ruins with the intent to seize the Bloodstone. They need to get it first, otherwise it will fall into his hands... then there may be no way to stop him and his legions if that happens!

While there are just a few broad strokes, you get the idea. It's not just that the party has to fight their way through a dungeon, or explore a dangerous crypt, or acquire a certain relic... it's that they don't have the luxury of time. This means that they will have to make choices based on the sand falling through the hourglass as much as anything else, and it will likely lead to some hard decisions.

We don't have time for this...

As an example, the smart thing to do in a dungeon is to carefully check every inch of the floor for traps... but if you have enemy forces closing on your position, you don't have the luxury of crawling along the floor and fiddling with every door. So now the rogue is rushing the job, or alternatives methods are used. Does the barbarian or the fighter bulldoze their way down a hallway, counting on toughness or armor to save them from the worst of the trap's damage? Or does the necromancer take one of her least-robust servants, walking the undead down the hall to trigger any tripwires or slicing blades, sacrificing the zombie in order to gain a few precious minutes of efficiency?

The same is true of combat situations in the dungeon. While a party might normally decide to clear a dungeon room by room, fighting anything that resists them, that can turn into a slog, and use a lot of resources that requires members to rest, recuperate, and replenish themselves. Alternatively, the party might like to try diplomacy and negotiation, but such tactics can be unreliable at best, and they often eat into the amount of time one has allotted. Does the press of minutes mean that the characters embrace stealth or guile instead? Perhaps attempting to sneak in without being seen, getting close to their goal and rushing out before they can get caught? Or do they attempt to blend in, don the uniforms and forms of creatures or warriors who should be present in this place, avoiding battle as much as possible in order to get what they came for and get out?

These are the kinds of pivots and changes that can be made when players don't have time to rush in, face first, sword swinging, before retreating half a dozen times to try again the next day once they've had 8 hours of rest, a Gatorade, and a chance to replenish all their spells and class features.

This is Where The Wizard Bullets Come In

Vancian magic is the dominant form of magic in Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, and similar games. Characters start the day with a certain amount of spells, and even if you aren't a spellcaster per-se, you often have a class feature or power that has a pool of points or resources (a cleric's channel energy, an alchemist's bombs and extracts, a monk's ki pool, a swashbuckler's panache, and so on) that runs out as you use them. This acts kind of like the bullets in a gun, which means that spellcasters and similar characters are extremely dangerous as long as they still have ammunition, but once they run out of their resources, they have a serious problem.

The problem arises when players have no time limit on their activities, and there's no penalties for rushing in, empting their magazines (so to speak), and then retreating to rest and recharge before coming in fresh. Because the challenge of these games is set up in such a way that a party should go through between 3 and 5 encounters between when they first loaded up to fight, and when they are supposed to be drained of their abilities.

By putting a time constraint on your players, you eliminate them retreating and "reloading" after every single encounter (or only a small handful of them), thus forcing them to conserve their resources and make tougher decisions about where they're going to use their powers, and how they're going to handle things going forward.

Oh balls... Guys, I think I'm tapped out!

For example, does the sorcerer really want to cast a spell just because it's their turn? Or will they use a wand or a scroll that will still be a helpful contrinbution to the battle while keeping their own powers in reserve? Does this battle really warrant the barbarian using their Rage, or can they handle this with their raw, brute strength and clever maneuverability? Does the ranger want to use their special arrows on this fight, or should they save those for the upcoming boss fight, knowing they only have a handful of them?

Because if players know, academically, they're on a time crunch they are going to get a lot more creative with their resources. Not only that, but they're going to really ask whether it's worth pulling the trigger when they only have so many rounds in the magazine... or should they just let the fighter with the greatsword handle it, even if it means the spellcaster has to wait a round or two while the martials mop up the rest of the battle?

If your players can just go in, guns blazing with no repercussions for walking back out and taking 24 hours to rest and recuperate to get themselves fully locked and loaded before wading back in... well, that's certainly going to undermine your threat and danger. But if they know they have to do all of this in one go, and the only resources they have are the ones they bring in the door with them, that's going to be a very different (and usually much more tense) adventure.

Additional Recommended Reading

If you enjoyed this piece, then I would recommend checking out 100 Tips And Tricks For Being A Better Game Master, along with the companion piece 100 Tips For Being A Better RPG Player. Both of these supplements have been quite popular, and they collect some of the best field-tested tips that have been covered on this blog over the years!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Dungeon Design Tips: Combine Combat With Traps

A while back I put together an article titled Consider Removing Doors From Your Dungeons, and it was popular enough that I thought I'd come back to the topic of dungeon design this week. And before I get into this next topic, I wanted to ask my readers out there... is this something you'd like to see me turn into an ongoing series? And if so, would you like to see it remain part of my Crunch updates, or would you like to see it become its very own section? And, for that matter, do you want it to remain hosted on this blog, or should I put it over in My Vocal Archive?

All input is welcome, as it's the voices of my audience I use to try to guide my decisions going forward. With that said, onto this week's topic!

After all, not all traps are this obvious!

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Combat And Traps: A Match Made In Hell

As I mentioned in the previous installment, a lot of us tend to think of our dungeons in segmented parts and pieces, which we don't allow to interact with one another. If there's a room with an encounter in it, then no matter how long or loud the combat gets, other denizens of the dungeon won't come to see what's happening, even though that's the logical thing to do... it's as if the doors are all soundproof, and none of the other monsters want to overstep the limits of the arena they're placed in. To help break us out of that mindset, my suggestion was to eliminate doors, or to at least leave them open so it's clear they aren't a barrier between what happens in this part of the map, and what happens further away.

However, just as we often section off our rooms and arenas, keeping them separate and apart from one another, we often refuse to let two other parts of our dinner touch; namely traps and combat encounters.

Guys, got a monster! Stop checking for traps and help me!

Consider this. A majority of the time we put traps in long hallways, cramped corridors, and otherwise empty rooms because (whether we're thinking about it or not) we consider the trap to be the encounter in that area. While some doors might have traps on them (thus allowing the trap to act as the opening salvo of an encounter), that is a one-two punch rather than a genuine combination of a trap and encounter. Like having a burger and fries in the same take out container, but they're still not touching each other.

No, this week's advice is to purposefully and deliberately combine traps with combat encounters as a way to create a more dynamic arena, and to increase the difficulty/challenge rating for your players.

There are a few different ways I would suggest thinking about this. Some of those methods, with examples, include:

- Added Threat: Consider a room with hidden crossbows or arrow traps, but which all fire at a height that will hit a Medium creature and not a Small one, and which go off when triggered by a higher weight than a Small creature possesses. This ensures the goblins in the room can run amok, goading the party to close the distance via certain routes, thus setting off additional, hidden attacks. Bonus points if the bolts/arrows are drugged or poisoned, thus creating an additional danger.

- Ticking Clock: We've all been in a room with a flooding trap before, putting a ticking clock on how long players have before they're drowned... but what if there are hungry crocodiles released into the rising waters? Or skeletal warriors who aren't bothered by things like a need to breathe? The water doesn't hurt the characters in and of itself, but it does add one hell of a challenge.

- Battlefield Control: The party steps into a room with a handful of orc archers firing their longbows. Clearly the solution is for the barbarian to charge them so they can no longer take pot shots at the party. But that's when the roaring brute finds, to their chagrin, that parts of the floor are loose, leading to drops into spiked pits. The enemy knows where the camouflaged pits are, and while the party now has to move carefully, the enemy can fire at will, or engage however they wish to.

These are just a few ways that traps can add additional threats to a situation, and create an additional threat for your party to deal with!

With that said, consider some of the following caveats...

Before going ham and adding traps to every encounter, take a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Because when choosing the proper traps to mix into your combat, it's important to consider the following questions:

- Is This An Equal Opportunity Trap? Most traps will likely be avoided by the monsters in the room, but there are some traps which will only be an issue for the party, even if they go off. A poison gas trap, for example, won't affect the zombies in a room, even if it creates a deadly poison cloud that can be a serious danger for the party.

- Is This A Crippling Trap? Most traps are dangerous in-the-moment, but if someone survives the trap, will it create a condition that character now has to deal with for the rest of the dungeon? Something that deals hit points, or which creates a short-term negative is very different than something that gives the victim a permanent negative, or which takes away one of their options to participate in the game going forward. Just like how a monster sundering a fighter's sword is a serious issue that shouldn't be considered lightly, so too is a trap that leaves an effect on a character after the room it's encountered in (other than hit point loss, as that's often reparable).

- Does This Trap Make Sense In This Location? If the party is invading the secret underground lair of a mad alchemist, then it makes total sense for rooms to be rigged with poison gas, explosive traps, and other challenges... but would those same devices be found in the lair of a dragon? Or a defunct crypt that no living person has entered in a century? Just because a trap might make good tactical sense, that doesn't mean it makes sense with the world's internal consistency.

- Is This Avoidable? There shouldn't be a guarantee that a trap goes off. There should be a chance that players avoid it, whether it's moving in a certain way to avoid triggering it, making a Perception check to notice the trap, or having some ability to negate or stop it from going off. Traps that you basically have to set off, or disable while you're under attack, can quickly suck the fun out of an encounter, and they're something you should avoid doing often (or at all, depending on the opinion of your table).

One last thing I would add as a piece of advice here is to choose your traps carefully. Just like how players will get tired of fighting the exact same monster over and over again, or how they'll come up with strategies to deal with specific tactics, a particular trap layout is only going to work so many times before it goes from a new and dangerous threat to an annoyance or frustration.

More importantly, though, is that the real advantage of traps is the uncertainty they create. For example, if your party snuck into a forbidden crypt, and they had to do battle with undead squires to enter the tomb proper, then the lack of a trap might make them confident. But then they have to cross a bridge that is trapped while undead archers fire arrows at them, that might leave their confidence shaken. When they enter the depths of the tomb, and find a skeletal champion and its retainers waiting for them, is the party going to assume this is another straight-up fight? Or will they be moving with caution, wondering where the booby traps are?

A trap only has to happen every now and again for the party to become wary of them. However, traps can grant a serious home field advantage, often allowing a small number of adversaries (or even just one) to take on an entire party of well-armed, well-prepared player characters!

Speaking of Traps...

Part of the reason I was thinking on this topic was that I've been re-reading my recent supplement Ungentlemanly Warfare: A Baker's Dozen of Booby Traps that I put out a little while back for my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic. I'm slowly gearing up to write a few more missions set in this world to follow up the first release A Night At Breckon's Beacon, and at least one of these missions is going to have a lot of traps as part of the challenge a squad is going to have to face.

Seriously, grab a copy if you haven't yet!

If you're looking for a game that definitely encourages the use of traps as part of the challenge (for both allies and enemies), then grab yourself a copy of Army Men for the holidays! And if you just want some improvised mayhem in your game, well, Army Men is based off of a 5E engine, so if your game also runs on something 5th Edition, or a 5th Edition port, these booby traps should be equally useful for you as well! And while some are meant for dealing with infantry, there are several that are meant for taking out vehicles, as well as their entire crew... so tread carefully!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Don't Want To Make Your Own Maps? Try Axebane's Maps On For Size!

Being a DM is a lot of work, and 90% of that work is just prepping the game. You need to have all your minis in place, you need the story arc drawn out, all the NPCs in the given area, a complete list of monster stats, and you have to remember what loot your party is going to find when they get through the challenge you've set before them.

There's one other thing you have to prep, though. Your maps.

And you're in... a room... somewhere...

Given how persnickety games like DND and Pathfinder can be about sight lines, distances between targets, and whether or not someone left a threatened square, running a game without a map can be a nightmare. And that's before Geoff's evoker starts tossing around area of effect spells. However, it takes a special kind of person to really get into making maps... which is why if you're not that kind of DM, head over to Axebane's Maps to save yourself a lot of time and headaches.

All The Dungeons You Could Ever Delve

The individual behind Axebane's Maps is a talented artist named Daniel Walthall, who is a lover of tabletop games. So, rather than keep that talent under a rock, he put all the maps up for fellow DMs to make use of. Just head over to the Tumblr page, and take a gander at all the resources on display. You need a rotting crypt? No problem. A multi-level megadungeon? Got you covered. What about village? No problem, Axebane has that too.

Seriously, these worksheets save you SO much time!

Not only do these pre-made maps take a lot of the strain off of your back, but they also allow you to draw up places you could pull out when players take unexpected turns. Did they seek an inn instead of going to the ogre cave? Well, you've got one. Did they decide to beard the dragon in its den rather than laying a trap for it? You're prepared for that, too. And even if you don't have something pre-made, all it takes is a few minutes with a pen to fill out a new sheet, and you're ready to go!

These maps are, of course, not for re-sale. However, they are free to anyone who wants to use them in their games. And, if you do want to help the artist keep making great content for fellow DMs, go to Daniel Walthall's Patreon page to become a patron. After all, every little bit helps!

And, if you're looking for other great (and free) resources to make your life behind the screen easier, you might want to check out Tabletop Audio Gives DMs Free, Hand-Crafted Soundtracks For Their Games and Want Some Cool Props At Your Table? Check Out Paper Forge!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday post. If you know of any other cool, free resources that help DMs out there, feel free to leave them in the comments below. If you'd like more content from yours truly, check out my Vocal archive, or head over to the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I and other gamers get together to offer tips, tricks, and advice for having a better game. If you want to stay on top of all my releases, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. If you want to help support Improved Initiative so I can keep making content for all you fine readers out there, then go to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, or click here to Buy Me A Coffee! Either way, my eternal gratitude will be yours, along with some sweet gaming swag.

Dungeon Crate Is The Subscription Box Service Gamers Have Been Waiting For

I've never had a subscription box service, even though I love the idea behind them. It's a little surprise to yourself every month, geared toward things you know you like. The problem I keep running into, though, is that even though there are thousands of subscription services out there, for everything from bacon and beard grooming, to horror movies and comic books, I've never come across something that grabbed me by the shoulders and yelled, "Come on, we're going on a goddamn adventure!"

At least, not until I stumbled across Dungeon Crate.

Take some initiative!

What is Dungeon Crate? Well, the simple explanation is that it's a crate subscription service geared toward tabletop gamers. That means when you pop open your monthly package, you'll get dice, set pieces, props, and all sorts of goodies that can kick your games up a notch.

The service hadn't launched just yet (at time of writing there's still nearly two days until Dungeon Crate goes live), so I reached out to Wayne Brekke, the Overlord of this enterprise. I asked him some questions, and I wanted to share his answers with you all, in case you were wondering why you should click that link and join up with the Dungeon Crate legion.

What are the sorts of things you'd like potential fans to know?

We built Dungeon Crate because we are gamers who love the various accessories that come with games. We love dice, tokens, minis, character sheets, and all the things that are out there that enhance role playing games. We thought others would like that too and we are working hard to give subscribers a monthly box that not only is more than worth every penny they spend, but also filled with items they will use on and off the game table.

What makes Dungeon Crate different from any other subscription service?

We want Dungeon Crate to be the top RPG subscription box available. The fact is, there are thousands of subscription box services, but not a lot that cater to role players and table top gamers. We will offer physical items, digital items, and exclusive items. We’ll also have an online store where folks can purchase items we create. We’re also tapping into the crafting community as it’s huge and both Bill and I are crafters and creators. So many people create terrain, paint minis, and make things to enhance their game, so we will be looking for vendors of things like brushes, paints, tools, and crafting accessories.

We have some great ideas that will make Dungeon Crate more than just a sub subscription box service. We want to create a multi-faceted business model that brings together gamers, inspires makers, and showcases other businesses in the gaming community.

Who are some of the bigger sponsors you have lined up?

We’re really focused on the smaller vendors at the moment. There are so many out there creating awesome gaming accessories. That said we are in talks with some larger vendors and will have announcements in the next few weeks. Right now we are working with Chessex, Shire Post Mint, Arc Knight Games, Knight Watch Games, and a few others.

When should people sign up?

People can go now and put in their email address to get on our list. We will be launching in a couple weeks and will publish an email to our list letting them know what day and time open enrollment will start.

Is this geared toward all gamers, or will certain people get more out of it than others? DMs, players, certain systems, etc?

Our goal is to provide a box where every product is used in some way. We are targeting players and DMs, and want to stay system neutral for the most part. We realize as adults, it’s tough to get players together, so we want Dungeon Crate to be an experience that inspires players and game masters, offering items that will be fun even in between gaming sessions.

We’re launching in January. Folks can go to Dungeoncrate.com and get on the list. Our site will be updated soon and we are planning to have an online store, video channel, and great resources for gamers. We’re also looking into an app that will offer easy access to vendors, our store, videos, as well as provide functionalities players and DMs can use in game. More on that to come!

Dungeon Crate is a small business and we’ll always be available to our subscribers for feedback, comments, and suggestions. We want to offer the highest customer service and personal experience possible.

If that doesn't get your attention, then I don't know what will. Seriously, go check out Dungeon Crate for yourself if you're not sold yet. I guarantee you won't leave without at least bookmarking the page.

As always, thanks for popping in to check out my Monday update. If you want to help support me and my blog, just stop by my Patreon page, and pledge as little as $1 a month. Seriously, it helps out more than you know. Also, if you don't want to miss any of my updates, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, too.