Have You Tried Adding Survival Aspects To Your Games?

Traditional fantasy games tend to be about epic quests and slaying monsters, rather than about the small details of day-to-day life on the road. However, if you're looking to try doing something fresh, then it might be a good idea to shift your focus a little bit. To make sure that everyone brings enough food to keep going when they head out on their adventure, to count how many arrows you have in your quiver, and to be sure that you can actually haul all that gear you brought along with you.

Captain, is this the kind of fruit we can eat? I'm on my last pack of trail rations.

While actually keeping track of survival elements isn't fun for a lot of people, it can make for a different, interesting sort of challenge. Not only that, but it can make character archetypes and skills that aren't typically considered useful feel much more potent.

Will You Survive?

Survival games take resource management to the next level, and they generally deal with rules and mechanics that are often hand-waved by DMs who'd rather not bother with them. For example, a lot of DMs don't bother tracking encumberance rules, or keeping track of how many bolts, arrows, or spell components the party brought with them into the wild. A lot of the time it's just assumed that you can find places to camp, and that you either brought enough to eat with you, or that you can forage for it.

In a survival-oriented game, those are not assumptions you make. Instead, the party needs to allocate those resources, and track them in order to avoid starving, getting heat stroke, running out of ammunition, or finding themselves digging through the bushes looking for just the right root to cast lightning bolt one more time.

Seriously, I just need a bit of fur. Or a tooth... a tooth would increase the spell's potency by +1.

If you're going to include these survival elements, then players suddenly need to take in a whole different group of challenges than they had to deal with before. For example, if the elements are a serious problem, and you aren't allowed to just say you found a nice campsite, then making sure you have rope trick on your spell list might seem more like a necessity than a luxury. If you have to cope with saves versus heat or cold, or deal with foraging for food, then spells like endure elements and a high Survival check might suddenly seem a lot more important than they would otherwise. And if walking around in full plate causes fatigue, and drastically limits the amount of stuff you and your mount can carry, then a lot of fighters might make do with a day-wear of chain and a shield, only putting on their heavy-duty armor when they reach a dungeon. You'll even find spellcasters taking Eschew Materials, and fighters making the rolls to salvage their fired arrows during combat. Heck, you might actually find characters taking Craft skills in order to make alchemical items, fletch arrows, etc. so they can make the things they need out of their environment without slogging through three days worth of rough country to reach a trading post.

And, most importantly, you'll stop parties from picking up every piece of dungeon trash they find, leaving the hordes of cheap goblin steel behind in favor of the gold, and the handful of gems that are worth an easily transportable fortune.

A Different Kind of Challenge

The purpose of a game with survival elements is not to punish players; it is to provide them with an additional set of challenges. It makes them consider the resources they have available, and carefully weigh their options in ways they otherwise might not. For example, if a party knows that travel through rough country is going to be hazardous during the storm season, and there will be roving packs of hungry wolves along with highwaymen to contend with, then it might be worth spending the silver to hire a ship, or to pay for a carriage fare to travel along one of their regular routes.

What was that about wandering threats in the wilderness?

Also, even though I typically am not in favor of random encounters when it comes to gaming, I will say that survival games are one of the exceptions that prove the rule. Because the whole point of these encounters is to make the environment feel like it's a challenge, and to force the players to consider their actions in terms of moving stealthily, keeping a careful look out for threats, and gathering information about the potential dangers along certain routes. So, in this case, random encounters can add that extra air of danger to show that it isn't just keeping yourself in one piece, fighting through storms and the hardships of travel... sometimes you also have to contend with angry bears, or mischievous faeries.

However, I would still recommend that you just pick the potential encounters in an area, as I suggested in For Tighter Games, Consider Nixing Random Encounters, and then just roll to see if they happen or not based on players' precautions. It saves you a lot of time and effort, as well as re-rolling when you get bunyips 12 times in a row.

Also, if you're looking for some random encounters to pick from, then you might want to take a look at 100 Encounters in a Fey Forest, as well as 100 Encounters For on The Road or in The Wilderness. They've got more than just combat encounters, and they can add some unique experiences to any game where you're going to be on the road for some time. The originals are written for Pathfinder, but there are also 5th Edition versions of both 100 Encounters in a Fey Forest and 100 Encounters For on The Road or in The Wilderness. They're both by yours truly, and both from Azukail Games, so they cost less than a cup of coffee, but will provide significantly more value behind your screen.

It's Not For Everyone

It's important to remember that not everyone wants to get bogged down in the minutiae and resource tracking that comes with a survival-oriented game. For a lot of players (and DMs), they'd rather skip all of the cold snaps, the panic of running low on firepower, or the extra rolls that come with salvaging arrows or figuring out how many fresh arrow shafts you can craft during the evenings by the camp fire.

And that's fine. Under normal circumstances, I'm both that kind of player and that kind of DM. But I can't deny that adding these elements to your game can give it a certain charm... just make sure everyone's on-board for this kind of game before you suddenly start hitting the PCs with a slew of environmental penalties because you didn't mention they had to be prepared for them this time around.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday installment! If you've run survival-oriented games before, what elements did you find working the best? Which ones just got in the way? Leave some comments to help out other readers.

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Can We Stop Making "The Batman Argument" For Wizards?

Character classes are designed so that they each have something to contribute to a game. The goal is for a party to be able to handle any challenge that comes its way, and for the members to combine their efforts in order to be more than just a bunch of individuals. A party should, ideally, be a team that works together like a well-oiled machine to defeat the cult, slay the dragon, or accomplish whatever other goal has been set before them.

No matter how unsettling that goal happens to be.

 

Despite our tacit agreement that every class has its place, and that in the hands of a skilled player any class or class combination can be used to make a good character, there is still this inane urge we have to talk about the "strongest" classes. In what boils down to a "my dad can beat up your dad" style debate, a faction of players will insist with absolute authority that wizards are the most powerful class. When asked why they feel this way, the players will say that it's because a 20th level wizard, given time to cast and the resources for necessary spell components, is an unstoppable force. They'll throw out the ability to teleport across the map, or the power to summon creatures from the ether, or the ability to create pocket dimensions, but no matter the lyrics, the tune being played is always the same.

I am now referring to this protestation as "The Batman Argument," and I would like to ask anyone tempted to make it to take a moment to look at why it's ridiculous.

What is The Batman Argument?

Batman is one of the most competent characters in the DC comics universe, if not in all of fiction. A master detective with a genius intellect, and perhaps the world's most accomplished martial artist, Batman's writers have also created a rule for the caped crusader's stories over the years. The rule says that no matter how powerful the foe, if given enough time and resources, Batman can craft a solution that lets him emerge victorious.

Because all I do is win.

 

This is the sort of logic that some players will use to justify their opinion about wizards being the most powerful character class. Because, they will argue, a sufficiently accomplished wizard can alter time, permanently alter his form, and create small armies of followers while guarding himself completely against any outside threat.

Which sounds great... until you realize the same sort of argument can be made for nearly any class.

 

Also, before we go any further, here's your reminder to check out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Wizards!

Every Class Is An Epic Threat At Level 20

If you set the same parameters for other classes that you do for a wizard (a huge budget, home turf advantage, and unlimited prep time), then you can create similarly difficult threats with any class, and a bit of creativity. A 20th level ranger claims a huge swath of forest, along with several strongholds inside it, and sets up traps to catch the unwary. Or a swath of desert, or a network of caverns, or even an entire neighborhood of a city. Within that area he can move like a ghost, springing deadly ambushes on anyone who enters his realm, and vanishing before his enemies can hit back.

Pick a class, and you can come up with similar arguments. A high-level rogue or ninja can ambush even the wariest of parties, picking them off in the night, or assassinating them in their beds, sneaking unseen past locked doors and booby traps. Give a 20th level fighter time to prepare for every contingency, and the equipment to handle it, and you'll find yourself hard-up against a master of war on her home turf. A 20th level barbarian is a storm of fury and frenzy, and even the lowly bard can create a deadly fun house that will have even competent adventurers jumping at shadows.

Of course a wizard that's allowed endless time to prepare, is given a huge budget, and is allowed to choose the place where the confrontation happens is going to be a gigantic threat. That's why so many end-of-campaign bad guys are wizards with a page and a half of precasts. But time and resources, put in the hands of any other class, can be just as dangerous.

Besides, how much harder is it to operate when you don't have the time and resources you need to prep? When you aren't given time to rest, and when you run out of fuel for your higher-level tricks? What then?

Everything Has A Weakness

Something that often gets overlooked in the pointless discussion of whose favorite class is better endowed than the other is this gaming truism; everything has a weakness.

Everything.

 

Paladins are an unstoppable force, when you put them up against evil creatures that rely on fear effects. If you have them fight creatures that aren't evil, though, they're fighting with their hands tied. Rangers are a deadly threat when they're in a familiar terrain and fighting a favored enemy... when they're out of their element, though, they lose a lot of their power. Rogues who can't get their sneak attack off aren't going to do a lot of damage, and fighters or barbarians who can't overcome damage reduction or escape a colossal foe's grapple, are going to be in quite the tight spot.

What about wizards? Well, wizards have weaknesses just like any other class. As I mentioned in How To Shut Down Spellcasters in Pathfinder, wizards' primary weaknesses are refreshing and preparing spells, required components, familiars and bonded items, and concentration checks. If you can keep a wizard from getting the time required to rest and re-prepare spells, disrupt the spellcasting process by planting an arrow in the caster's shoulder, stealing a bonded item, or snatching away necessary material components (particularly important for high-level spells where the components can't be ignored with Eschew Materials), then you have taken the bullets out of the gun.

The other weaknesses wizards have to deal with is that they have to choose spells for the day, and they can only cast so many of those spells. Choosing the wrong spells for a given situation is just as disastrous as firing off one spell after another, until you're shooting blanks. And, lastly, a wizard needs to be able to get their spells off. Sometimes all it takes is a good initiative check for you to cripple your foes before they can harm the party... and sometimes all it takes is a bad initiative check for you to find yourself on the ragged edge before you managed a single somatic component.

Everything Is Situational

None of this is to say that wizards, or any other spellcasters, are weak classes. They simply have different pressure points than other classes do. And, while you should plan for those blind spots so you know what to do if they come up in game, people in glass houses ought not to throw stones.

No matter how badass your glass house is.

 

At the end of the day, though, how effective a character, or a party, is depends entirely on the campaign they're put in. For example, A brute squad made up of a front line of skull crushers, an archer, a battle caster, and a chaplain are going to decimate the enemy on the battlefield in a straight-up fight, but if they have to pursue a more subtle, political plot they'll be fish out of water. A powerful enchanter or illusionist might be able to defeat foes through trickery and domination, but if every enemy in a campaign is immune to their spells because their minds are beyond the reach of magic, these casters are completely out of their element.

At the end of the day, it's perfectly okay to have a favorite class. By all means, talk about the things you like, and why you like them. But if you ever feel the need to break out a ruler and start comparing sizes, just remember that you're not Batman.

I hope this week's Monday post didn't ruffle too many feathers! If you enjoyed it, and you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, then why not stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon Page to become a patron? As little as $1 a month will keep the content flowing. Also, if you haven't already, why not follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter?