Assigned Motivation in RPGs

Oceans of ink have been spilled by people writing about character motivation. From lists of potential motives, to questions to ask about your character, to story concerns, and the intricacies of the unfolding plot, few aspects of the game are as important as figuring out why your characters are doing the things they're doing.

Hell, it's why my supplement 100 Character Goals and Motivations is an Electrum seller, after all.

However, while characters should always have personal motivations that come into play throughout a campaign, a lot of Game Masters overlook the expediency of a game that comes with assigned motivation... often to the point that a lot of people are completely unfamiliar with the idea, or they consider it a form of unacceptable railroading.

So let's talk about that this week, shall we?

Forward! Go, go, go!

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The Mission IS Your Motivation

The standard model of many RPGs is that player characters form some kind of party, and then go off on an adventure. Sometimes they're mercenaries, and sometimes they're brigands. They might be wandering around looking for a reward, or for good deeds they can do. In these kinds of games the characters' personal motivations are often what takes center stage for each of them. Maybe there's a holy warrior attempting to follow their god's will, they team up with a former soldier trying to find where their next meal is coming from, and they cross paths with a savage warrior seeking some trial grand enough to act as a rite of passage for their people. These motivations are all very personal to the characters in question, and wildly different from one another. Generally what a GM will do at this point is figure some way to weave together all the characters' independent goals and motivations into the unfolding plot, dangling hooks for each of them to get them to work together.

And that is a lot of work... both on the players' parts, but also on the GM's part.

Assigned motivation works differently. In this structure, every character is part of a unit, an organization, a group, a cause, and that cause has the ability to assign them to handle matters on its behalf. You and your fellow party members aren't necessarily going to handle the current issue du jour because it fits with your moral code, or because there's treasure to be gained, or a reputation to be won... you're doing it because your commanding officer assigned you to go and take care of it!

Now, this is the method I used for my own RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic, precisely because it's a military-themed game. Because yes, your characters should be individuals with their own wants, their own goals, and so on, but you're in the squad to do a job. And sure, maybe your medic joined up because they couldn't afford to go to medical school, and a tour of service will help them do that. Maybe your grunt is fulfilling a family tradition, and he's a third-generation soldier. Maybe your ordnance specialist caught a charge for arson and weapons trafficking, and he'd rather join the army than do time. Whatever the reason, and whatever goals someone is shooting for, they're still going to go and deal with the missions that command sends them on. They don't have to like it, but that's the agreed-upon framework for the game and story.

And this isn't a new idea by any stretch of the imagination. You see this same setup in the Warhammer 40K RPG Dark Heresy, where the PCs are all part of an inquisitor's retinue, and expected to complete the tasts and assignments the inquisitor gives them. You'll also see something similar in Spycraft, which is a game that I personally took a lot of inspiration from when designing Army Men. However, this same setup can be used in any RPG if your GM sits everyone down and says, "Okay, I want you all to be part of a mercenary company, a squad of town guards, conscripts in a current war," or whatever other flavor they've come up with.

On the one hand, there are a lot of players out there who do really well with assigned motivation in a game. Being told by the GM that they need to make a member of a knightly order, or a soldier in an army, or someone who works for this fantasy world's secret service takes the pressure off of them when it comes to character motivation, and it allows them to color within the lines they've been given. However, there are also players (and even Game Masters) who really don't care for this approach to character building and game management. They often feel that it means they can't make their own, individual characters with their own, individual goals, and that they're expected to just fall in-line, and to go along with the motivation that's presented to them.

Now, just to reiterate, preferences in your game are perfectly fine. But if you've never tried using assigned motivation in your campaigns before, consider giving it a shot if it sounds interesting to you. Just remember that it's something you need to bring up with your players early on in discussing the game, and you need to make sure you have full buy-in from everyone.

Or, if you really want to, you could try any of the games I've mentioned here, and see if they agree with you!

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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!

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3 Systems I Would Recommend For Running an SCP Foundation Game

While I might be a little late to the game, so to speak, I've been really enjoying the SCP Foundation as a fictional entity. From short stories, to YouTube lore channels, to short films, there's a lot of it to take in, and it's getting a little bit bigger every day. Heck, I even made my own contribution a little while back with 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, SCP Edition, and the audio drama version I put together below.

Consider checking those out, if you haven't seen them yet. It's been tough getting views on them, and I'd like to justify doing a little bit more in this setting, if I can.

However, with so much rich content under creative commons license, it was only a matter of time until someone put out an SCP roleplaying game. And while there is an SCP-specific game on the market now, simply titled SCP The Tabletop RPG, I haven't found it to be a game that really grabs me.

This got me thinking about what other games there are out there one could use to run an RPG campaign in the SCP universe. And while I'm sure there are a lot of games that I missed, I think that the following list makes for some pretty strong starting places.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, 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!

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Game #1: Delta Green

Just the facts, please, sir.

The first game on this list, and perhaps the most obvious, is Delta Green. This secretive government entity exists in the shadows, and since the raid on the town of Innsmouth in the 1920s the agents of this bureau have combatted the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos wherever they find them, protecting the world and safeguarding us against the machinations of mad cults and dark gods alike.

While this game started off life connected to the Call of Cthulhu RPG, they've grown and changed to the point that they're separate entities at this juncture. However, honorable mention to Call of Cthulhu as another option for those who want their players to be even more vulnerable than your average Delta Green agent. If that's an option you want to pursue, consider grabbing the Investigator Handbook and the Keeper's Rulebook for the 7th Edition of the game!

Game #2: Hunter: The Vigil

Werewolves, you say? Shame... I'll just have to shoot them a LOT.

If you want a game where the characters are a little more durable, but have to deal with just as much supernatural nonsense, I'd also recommend checking out Hunter: The Vigil. Part of the Chronicles of Darkness series of RPGs, Hunters are the ones who bump off the things that go bump in the night, and they're often used by storytellers as a threat when players are being a little too loud, and breaking the veil of secrecy a little too often in the other spheres.

While the variability in Hunter can be used to scale the power and equipment your agents have access to, you can also use the other spheres of the Chronicles of Darkness to bring in the various aspects of the SCP universe. If you need reality benders and bizarre magic users, Mage: The Awakening has you covered. If you want beings of phenomenal, cosmic power to act as allies or antagonists, you can find them in Demon: The Descent. And if you want that mid-range of mutants and monsters, then all of the creatures and power sets located in Deviant: The Renegades might be right up your alley.

This option has the most scalability of the choices, but it does require a lot of reading on the part of the ST, and it would require the largest number of books. Still, if you happen to have the Chronicles of Darkness books gathering dust on a shelf, and you're looking for a new way to breathe life into them, consider giving this a try!

Game #3: Savage Worlds

Absolute savages.

Much as with the Chronicles of Darkness, the Savage Worlds RPG system has a lot of different games you could bring to bear on creating an interconnected SCP universe game. However, Savage Worlds tends to be a lot lighter on mechanics, which might be more appealing to some players who like the idea of a big, sprawling, multi-book game, but who don't want to have a stack of tomes on the floor that reaches to the top of the table should they need to reference something during the campaign.

While you'll definitely need the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition as well as Dark States to start with, I'd also recommend using a combination of the weird Western game Deadlands, and the Victorian monster hunting game Rippers as the basis for the campaign. While both of these are period piece games, they provide a lot of the rules and backgrounds one could easily use to get an SCP campaign going. You might even want to expand into books like Weird War I, or even Necessary Evil which includes rules for super powered characters, but that will be up to your particular game, and what sort of elements you want to bring in.

What Games Did I Miss?

Do you have a game or system that you feel would make a good basis for covering the wide variety of genres and stories found in the SCP universe that didn't make this (admittedly very short) list? Toss it in the comments below! I'm always looking for new stuff to check out, so I'm happy to take a gander at any recommendations folks want to throw my way.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. 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 the ongoing audio drama series The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like 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 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!

Your Story Progression Doesn't Have to be Linear (Even if Your Levels Are)

We all know how character advancement works in class-based systems. You start off at level 1 as little more than a pest removal agent, and you fight, cast, and plot your way to level 15 or 20 where you're ruling over nations, or winning wars with a wave of your hand. However, because level progression is linear, we also tend to tell stories that are linear. Bob the Fighter got tired of being a farmer, and left home at 17 to see the world, and make his fortune. A dozen years later, he's become a champion of nations, and his name is a whispered legend in the iron trade.

Also, only his childhood friends get away with calling "Robert the Red" by "Bob" these days.

However, it should be noted that nowhere in the level progression sections of our favorite games does it state that when we gain a new level, or when we multiclass, that we are necessarily learning unfamiliar skills. While the books make suggestions for explaining where you picked up new skills (like the ever-popular, "the wizard has been tutoring the bard, and thus the bard now takes a level of wizard," example), I'd like to propose an alternative.

That alternative is non-linear character progression.

What, Precisely, Does That Mean?

Flavor and mechanics need to work together. Your mechanics have to support your story, and your story has to inform your mechanics. However, it's also important to remember that your level does not, necessarily, dictate the story you're telling. Put another way, not every first-level character is a kid, out on their own for the first time. Some of them are characters coming out of retirement, who may be a little rusty on their former skills, or people who have forgotten, lost, or had stolen from them who they once were.

I've been a city guard for ten years. I don't know if I've got it in me to take on a dragon again.

I first covered this idea in The First Level Badass (Freeing Your Backstory From Level Restraints), but there was a practical use for non-linearity that I didn't hit too hard when I wrote that previous post. Namely that there are a lot of feats, prestige classes, and other mechanical concerns that have a story requirement to them. For example, in order for you to become an assassin, you have to be evil aligned, and kill someone for no purpose other than to take levels of this class. So how do you make that work if you also want to have levels of paladin?

It's quite simple, really. You were an assassin in your younger years, but you left that life behind, and turned your skills to a more righteous cause.

Storywise, that likely means your character starts out older than one would expect. He has a varied history, and some skills you wouldn't expect a righteous warrior to have. Things that are easily done by taking the right background traits at character creation, and perhaps dipping a few levels into rogue for the sneak attack, and better skill ranks. Mechanically, the character still needs to have the necessary skill ranks to take the class. However, the evil alignment and requirement to kill someone were taken care of in his backstory. It isn't that he's only just now learning these skills; he's always had them, but has simply not used them. And in many cases, actually using them would break his paladin oath, which explains why he never put those abilities to use as a story tool.

If that sort of scenario interests you, then you might also want to check out 5 Paladin Multiclass Characters (You'll Never Expect). Just saying.

This works for almost any situation that has a purely flavor requirement. In 3.5 you had to spend several years in the Underdark before you could take levels of Dungeon Delver. In Pathfinder, you need to slay a devil with HD greater than your own to take levels of Hellknight. This list goes on, but I think you get the idea.

If You Like It, Give It A Try

This is not a technique I would recommend for newer players. In order to make a non-linear story work with linear mechanics, you have to be a deft hand at both roleplaying, and at explaining what's going on in your current story. You need to make sure that mechanical inconsistencies jive with what's happening in regards to your story.

Most importantly, though, you need to be sure that you, and your DM, are on the same page regarding your character, and where you're going with it. Not every DM is going to be comfortable with this sort of storytelling, especially if it's used to justify flavor prerequisites for abilities or prestige classes. However, it is an option, and if you want to give it a whirl, then you might find it to your liking.

Hopefully folks found this week's Fluff post interesting, even if it's not something you'd consider doing at your table. Often all you have to do is mention something is possible to start expanding horizons. If you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, all you have to do is stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, and leave a little bread in my jar. All it takes is $1 a month, and you'll get some sweet swag from me as thanks! Lastly, if you haven't done so yet, why not follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter?

Do Dwarves Surf? Tips For Diversifying Non-Human Fantasy Races

We all know dwarves. They're short, hirsute, and they're known far and wide for their love of ale, their craftsmanship, and their brusque demeanor. But what if, instead of living in a mist-shrouded mountain with a snowswept peak, you had a city of dwarves who'd made their home in a volcano on a tropical island? How would that location change dwarven culture, and the ways in which they demonstrate their inherent racial traits?

Never challenge the Tide Hearts... they'll sweep you under, and drown you.

As a quick for instance, would the dwarven love of wealth, mixed with their inherent toughness and difficulty to move, mean that pearl diving is a specialty among these islanders? Would tattoos be more common than heavy necklaces and bracers because of the heat, allowing dwarves to create fine artistry, and list their achievements proudly on their bodies for all to see? Do these dwarves still fight with heavy steel axes and hammers, or do they prefer to use lighter, more refined weapons like obsidian blades whose edges are equal to any steel weapon? Do they have a martial art that focuses on wrestling in the water, as well as on land? Do they use the banked heat of their volcanic home to forge items found nowhere else in the world?

Most importantly, do these dwarves surf?

Also, while we're on the subject, check out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Dwarves!

Humans Aren't The Only Diverse Species in Fantasy

Too often we fall into what I refer to as "The Tolkien Trap" when it comes to fantasy RPGs. We acknowledge that humans come in a wide range of shapes, styles, colors, and cultures, but no matter where we go the orcs, elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes are always the same. The elves are always aloof and dismissive, the dwarves have thick Scottish accents and drink all the time, the halflings are stomachs with feet, and gnomes are random jokesters who don't understand why everyone is always so upset with them.

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with having archetypes. But we see that human civilizations in different parts of our fictional world have different cultures, attitudes, and traditions... so why wouldn't the non-human races follow suit?

At what point do elves trade in their lutes for heavy metal ballads?

 

The easiest way to run the thought experiment is to do what I did above; take the non-human race out of its traditional element, and plop it down in a different location. How does this race change and adapt to fit this new environment, while still remaining true to the core of what it is (those mechanical bonuses you get for playing a member of this race)?

For example, we usually associate elves with trees. But how would their culture change if we took them out of the forests, and put them in the desert? Would they maintain their grace and stealth, blending in with shifting sand dunes, suddenly appearing and disappearing when it seems there was nowhere for them to go to or come from? Would they still wield bows, and if so, would they be the longbows we're used to, or would they wield shorter bows made from horn and heartwood? Would desert elves allow outsiders to see their faces, or would that act be something reserved only for close friends and family?

Another approach you could take is to shift an important aspect of the race's stereotypical culture, and then look at what ripples that would create. For example, what would be the result of a clan of orcs choosing to follow a god like Erastil, instead of depending on Gorum? While the Lord in Iron represents strength, power, and conquest, how would the values of community, family, and living in balance with nature alter a group, generation after generation? Would these settlements focus more on woodcraft, child-bearing, and living as good neighbors with those around them, using their in-born abilities and strengths to reach out hands of friendship, instead of the swords and spears of war?

Don't Be Afraid To Be Different

While the title of this section seems pretty straightforward, I'd like to include an asterisk. A big, fat asterisk. One which I will give its own name: The Dritzzt Exception.

You should have seen this one coming.

 

As someone who loves the versatility of fantasy as a genre, and who supports players in making characters which buck stereotypes, I do feel a need to point out that the burden is on players when they're trying to go against established canon regarding specific places and trends which already exist in their specific game world.

Let's look at Golarion, for example. If you want to play an orc or haf-orc from Belkzen, you have a pretty bad history to overcome. That nation has been at constant war, it's a savage wasteland, and the most common gods worshiped there are Rovagug, Lamashtu, and Zon Kuthon. The country is, on the whole, chaotic evil. Not only that, but it is the orc hordes of Belkzen who supported the lich lord known as the Whispering Tyrant in his bid to destroy life as we know it. That history does not force a character from Belkzen to be evil. However, players need to look at the context in which their character was raised, and then ask what lessons he took away from that rearing. And in a place where might makes right really is the law of the land, it's important for the player to be able to explain how a character with a lawful good alignment came out of that mess.

On the other hand, Golarion is a wide and varied world. An orc from the deserts of Osirion, the frozen peaks of the Land of The Linnorm Kings, or the depths of the Mwangi Expanse has none of the cultural baggage of the savage hordes of Belkzen. In fact, as has been expressly stated in books like Bastards of Golarion, orcs and half-orcs who fall outside the regions that have warred with Belkzen don't even experience the kind of racism orcs are assumed to be treated with in most fantasy RPGs. Because if there's no history of conflict between a nation and groups of orcs, then why would they be treated with suspicion?

Just some food for thought.

As always, thanks for stopping in to check out this week's Fluff post. If 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 per month is a big help, but more than that, it gets you some sweet swag as a new patron. Lastly, if you haven't done so already, why not follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter?

What Does Your Spell Preparation Look Like?

The camp went silent at the sound of the hammer. It struck hard and true, followed by the sound of something wet pattering on the leaves. Three blows, a pause, and then another three blows, each followed by that heavy spatter. There were no cries of pain. No gasps of anguish. Just the slow, steady breathing of the body. Lakonia entered the clearing a few minutes later, throwing the mallet aside in disgust before seating herself near the fire.

"The priest?" Arnault asked without turning his head to look at her.

"Praying," Lakonia said, shuddering. She kept her gorge down, though. She'd wielded the hammer too many times now for the sight to make her truly ill.

"Good," said Bofull, tugging on his bow string. "We'll need all the strength we can get."

"Tomorrow," Lakonia said, staring into the crackling flames. "You can crucify him."

Religion, am I right?

Spell preparation is one of those things we often gloss over completely when it comes to Pathfinder. Just like the days of journeying to your destination, or the amount of stuff you're currently carrying, most DMs just hand wave it away. All they care about is that you prepared your spells, never mind what you did or how you did it.

For some players, that's just fine. If you're looking for a way to make your casting characters a lot more unique, though, it might be a good idea to think about what their spell preparation actually looks like, since the party is going to be seeing a lot of it.

Making The Magic

The general theory behind spell preparation is that a prepared caster, like a wizard or a cleric, has to go through a ritual in order to nearly complete a spell. Think of it like creating a magic bullet, and loading it in their brains. They're preparing a mental shell, loading it with the right ingredients, and cocking the hammer; all that's left to do is pull the trigger in the form of verbal, somatic, and material components. I already talked about those in What Do Your Verbal and Somatic Components Look Like? if you're looking for tips on making the casting, rather than the preparation, more unique.

Every spellcaster is doing the same thing when preparing their spells; going through the motions, and focusing their mind in order to shape the concept of magic into the proper creation, so that it can be unleased into the world when appropriate. The descriptions in the rules when it comes to preparing arcane and divine spells are both similar, and vague. You need to get into the proper, receptive state of mind, focus, and then either go through an arcane form as dictated by your spells, or pray. Whatever that looks like.

Don't laugh, this is totally an option for spell preparation.

The question you need to answer for yourself is what does your character's particular preparation look like?

The Pregame Ritual

Think of your spellcaster as an athlete for a moment. The rituals they're going through are their pregame. Just like someone getting ready to compete will stretch and warm up, both mentally and physically, so too does your spellcaster have to get in the right head space, and turn on his or her A-game.

How do you do that?

Aside from ingesting magical elixirs.

There's no one, right answer to this question. For example, if you're an erudite wizard who is more of a scholar than a warrior, it might be common to find you enjoying what portable pleasures you can while in the wild. Sitting in a camp chair, idly sipping a cup of tea, and flicking through your spellbook using prestidigitation to turn the pages while it sits on a stand is an option. Bonus points if you convince the bard to play a lute or a violin so you have relaxing tunes while you rev up your brain for the day.

On the other hand, say you're playing an evoker who graduated from a war academy. Your spell preparation is written down in your book, but each spell might have a ritual that goes with it. The more powerful the spell, the more involved the ritual. For example, you set up a ring of candles, and then you have to move through that ring. 1st level spells like burning hands might require you to step forward, striking swiftly with both hands to put out a flame. You capture the smoke in your mind, and hold the last moment of that fire going out as the trigger you'll unleash when you speak the command word. For a bigger spell, like fireball, you need to go through a more complex set of forms, capturing the feel and symbolism of fire, using your motions to blow out every candle in the circle before drawing their potential together into your hands, clasping the spell in your mind.

Those are just two examples of what your spell preparation might look like. If you worship a sun goddess, do you prepare your spells at dawn, or at sunset? Do you use the day's first natural light to fill your mind with magic, or capturing the last of her fading glory to keep you bright and warm through the night? You could do that with any prepared caster who happens to be religious. Or, say you are a cleric who worships a god of war. Do you kneel and pray quietly, or do you recite the edicts of your order while maintaining your equipment? Symbolic prayers, like sharpening your sword for greater magic weapon, or polishing your helmet for a protection spell, add depth to a daily ritual that might not otherwise exist.

And if you worship a god of pain, suffering, and darkness? Well... you might need to get crucified before your mind reaches the place you can commune with your god.

What About Spontaneous Casters?

If we hand wave prepared spellcasters, we out and out forget that spontaneous casters have any ritual to their daily preparation. After all, that's the point of being a spontaneous caster, isn't it? You don't have to pick and choose, or go through long rituals... you're always on.

Always.

We all know that sorcerers, bards, and other spontaneous arcane casters just need to get 8 hours of rest before they can cast their spells for the day... but what we sometimes forget is that they also need to spend 15 minutes or so after that rest focusing their minds and tuning themselves up (Core Rulebook 220). Bards need to do some kind of performance as well, whether it be lightly humming through their favorite tunes, strumming on an instrument, or going through a prepared monologue while limbering up their voices.

What does that look like? For example, if you have a draconic sorcerer, do you surround yourself with the element associated with your forebear? Do you lie on a pile of treasure? Do you concentrate on your inner dragon, stoking the power inside yourself so that it's closer to the surface?

Those little decisions can say a lot about a character. Not only that, but they transform you from, "that spellcaster we bring along," to, "Blackthorn the Mad, Scion of a Thousand Razors".

Be honest, which name would you rather be known by?

As always, thanks for stopping in to see what this week's Fluff post was about. If you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, then why not stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, and donate $1? As little as one George Washington a month can make a big difference, and help me keep content coming straight to you. Also, if you haven't done it yet, why not follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter?