Most folks who read my blog with any regularity know that in addition to writing books like my recent short story collection The Rejects and my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, running two blogs, and keeping up an archive of articles over on Vocal, that I also write RPG supplements. And while most of my supplements recently have tended to focus on the fill-in details that DMs need for their games, like pre-made NPCs, or mercenary companies, cults, etc. a lot of folks have been asking when I'm going to actually write some full-on modules.
Well, I have been. And though they've slipped under the radar for the most part, all three of them are finally out, so I thought I'd collect all of them in one place to let my readers know!
And for those who didn't see it last week, well, this is the most recent release!
Critical Hits: How They Came To Be
For those of you not in the know, I wrote three one-shot modules for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition several years back. While the first two, False Valor and The Curse of Sapphire Lake have been out for a little while now, Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh has finally dropped. So, now that they're all out I figured I'd take a moment to let folks know, and to give you a bit of background on how they came to be.
Every great game needs a little backstory, right?
Our tale begins several years ago. I was sifting through my email in between reviews and posts, when a unique project proposal came across my desk. The client was looking to make a website where dungeon masters could create slick, sleek-looking modules with relatively little effort, and almost no desktop publishing knowledge. However, to provide a kind of proof-of-concept he needed some writers to create modules using the site to show off what could be done with it.
He'd seen some of my other work, and decided to offer me a shot.
Now, writing modules wasn't really something I had a lot of experience with at the time, but if the site was as easy to use as the client claimed I figured it couldn't be too difficult. Especially since he didn't want anything huge; just a simple, one-shot module that could be used to fill an evening. Something he could use as an example, and to give away for free to prospective DMs who joined. With a competitive per-word rate, I told him sure, I'd be able to get something up in fairly short order.
The first module I wrote was actually Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh. A simple module where something dangerous is assaulting the one road into the town of Bracken, and the heroes need to fight off whatever it is, and track it back to its source in order to end the threat. Grim, dark, and dreary, it had a basic hook, a simple setup, and could be played through by experienced players and new ones alike. I was about 80 percent done with the module, and I'd just finished up the text for the adventure's Big Bad, when the client reached out and told me he was shutting down the site. He apologized profusely, gave me a generous kill fee for the project, and wished me luck.
Problem was that I now had a module that was most of the way done, with no one to publish it.
That was, of course, about to change.
I'd been in the game for a while, so I reached out to Total Party Kill Games (whom I'd created feats for in the past), and showed them the module I had. They liked it, but were a little unsure about its length. They really wanted something a bit meatier, which would justify a print run and putting the story out in multiple formats. Rather than re-work the module I had, I offered a counter-proposal; I could write several more modules just like this one, and they could be bundled together. Each one could offer different themes, different hooks, and different tones, the collection acting as a kind of gaming sample platter for DMs and players who might want to try a horror game, a murder mystery, etc., but who didn't want to commit to an entire campaign.
Said idea was approved, and that's how the Critical Hits series came to be!
Why Are There Only Three?
It's been several years since the project was first given the okay, and as sometimes happens in publishing there were snags. Existing projects had to be rearranged due to new editions coming out, creative teams got reshuffled, and so on, and so forth. As I said, despite Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh being the original module that kicked off the whole project, it was only just released at the tail end of this initial run.
And while I don't have anything in the pipe right now, that could all change depending on you my dear readers.
What can we do?
As I confided to my friends when I first started working on these (I finished all three modules over the course of the summer, by the by), I would be more than happy to keep creating modules as long as people were playing them. And generally speaking, publishers take notice if they put out a product that starts climbing up the medal scale over at Drive Thru RPG.
So if you've seen these before (or if you're just now finding out about the series, and would like to see it grow), here's what you can do to help. If you have a couple of bucks, by yourself a copy. If you already have a copy, leave a review since that helps more people find the modules. Share the link, and tell your friends about it. And it you've got a gaming podcast, a blog, or a YouTube channel, consider using that platform to help me boost the signal on these. Heck, if you want to do a play through or a review, just email me and I'll make sure you get yourself a reviewer copy of any or all of these!
And I'll do my part to share the signal boost back your way!
And if you're not sure which game would best suit your needs (or if you don't like to buy things blind), I'll do my part to try to guide your decisions. False Valor: Written second, but released first, this module is a murder-mystery investigation. A girl was killed in a way that resembles the execution method used by war criminals generations ago, and it's got tensions running high. Are the elves starting hostilities again, or is something else happening? This module was meant to show players (particularly newer ones) that hacking and slashing won't solve all your problems, and that you need to find the true enemy before you can hope to fight them.
The Curse of Sapphire Lake: We're only halfway to Halloween, but this one was very specifically meant as a love letter to all my fellow slasher fans out there. An ancient campfire tale stalks the town of Kingsbridge, but is it just a monster from out of the mists, or is there something more going on beneath the surface? Piecing together what's happening now with the events that led the settlement's founder to be slain decades ago could be the key to unlocking what the masked figure stalking the town wants... and what will make it stop.
Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh: Meant to evoke the danger of the world beyond the safety of the walls, and the claustrophobic air of an unknown threat (something I daresay we're all much too familiar with these days), this module is meant to be tense, grim, and a little frightening. Everything is damp, dreary, and the horror of what's truly happening out in the wetlands beyond Bracken can leave players horrified. While it doesn't have mature content, it's the bleak way the module presents what it has that might make it something your group loves, or hates, depending on their tastes. If you're a fan of Dark Souls, Shadow of The Demon Lord, and other grim tales, this one should definitely be on your shelf.
Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. 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!
Many years ago I got invited to play an RPG with a group I'd never met before. It was pretty large, and the general gist of things was that it was a high-fantasy world with a lot of magic and some rapidly advancing technology. The party, as I was introduced to them, included the following;
- A powerful psychic warrior who'd escaped from a brutal, repressive nation
- A halfling paladin who literally shown with a halo of light.
- A half-elf alchemist smart enough to understand the very fabric of the cosmos.
- A cyborg mercenary with a gambling problem wielding a sword that had slain a powerful lich.
There was one guy who was standing off in the shadows and playing it coy, though. Rather than just introduce his PC, the way the others did, he made a big deal about how there was this tall figure in a black robe that obscured his features. And he was carrying this huge scythe. Then he pulled back the cloth, revealing... well, basically exactly what you're expecting with that lead up.
Hey man, you got any twos?
The player had gotten super special permission from the DM to play a pseudo-undead race, and he had chosen to make this living skeleton a cleric of the god of death. It was, of course, then completely necessary to walk around in a ragged robe that really did very little to conceal what he was for long, and while carrying a big, obvious weapon. The loud kind of mysterious that is not, in fact, mysterious at all.
This player continually expected to get a big reaction out of this character, and he never did. And that's something I'd like to talk about today, because there are a lot of players (and DMs as well) who seem to forget that when everything is weird, the flip side of that is that nothing is weird.
The Fantastical Mundane
I talked about this over on The Literary Mercenary in Making Use of The Fantastical Mundane in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but if you didn't catch that when it first came out, the concept is pretty simple. In short, the world you are in decides when something is or isn't unique, strange, or special. If you're in a setting where, for example, magic is rare and wondrous, then just the act of being a magical creature, much less a wizard or a sorcerer, would immediately make you a target of fear and awe. In a setting where magic is everywhere, though, it ceases to be a spectacle. In that sort of setting, sorcerers might be casting spells on street corners for pocket change, and levitating trains might run between cities on the power of ancient runes.
In New York, this is terrifying. In hell, this is Tuesday.
This is something a lot of players sort of forget about when making their characters. Base races, even the notably inhuman ones, aren't some impossible creature that only exists in stories. People have heard of them before, and in more cosmopolitan areas there may be entire neighborhoods of them. Whether you're a six-and-a-half-foot-tall cat person with a massive crossbow over your back, or you're a fuschia-haired, jade-eyed gnome riding around on a floating pink cloud instead of a mount, you might be unusual, but you're still mundane by the standards of the world.
Which is to say that you might get a, "Huh, haven't seen that before," or perhaps some curious questions or funny looks out in the hinterlands, but you're probably not going to cause riots simply by existing the way you would in a low-magic world.
Interesting Characters Are More Than Skin Deep
And we need to explore them over time.
A common mistake that lots of players make is to assume that making a character look weird, frightening, or unusual is the same as making that character interesting. It isn't. A standard human fighter can be the most interesting character in the party, and the drow wizard/assassin might be the most boring... it all depends on what's going on beneath the skin, and how you lead the rest of the party down that path to figure it out.
Let's go back to the overly-grim reaper for a moment.
To add some context to that introduction scene, it was the new PC being introduced to the squad he was going to work with through the adventurer's guild. They were in the middle of a major city, so even though the new guy had never seen a sentient undead before, there were dozens of possible explanations for what this thing was, and why it was here. It was unique, but it was far from unheard of just in the context of what one might see walking down the street in the high magic district.
But the character displayed no unique personality after that initial reveal.
As a cleric who seemed to be the party healer, the player missed a golden opportunity for the others to call him Bones (the age-old nickname for the sawbones). The character, post-reveal, could have offered a bony hand and apologized for the state of himself, but he was in the middle of conducting a service when he got the call to come in and thus was still in his "official" robes/costume rather than something a little more casual. Even something as simple as asking for alignment, deity of choice, and funerary rite preference should the new guy meet a terrible end while on a mission, as disposing of his earthly remains would likely fall to the cleric would have added some personality.
Any of those simple quirks would have instantly made the leper in the room into one of the most interesting characters at the table. Alternatively, if there had been some effort put into genuinely disguising what he was (say, being under a constant illusion spell that he never risked someone seeing through by avoiding physical touch whenever possible, or wearing actual concealing robes, veil, etc. that would have genuinely shrouded him), then it would have been a big surprise when the party realized they'd been traveling with a living skeleton this whole time. Combined with an interesting personality, that sort of long-term reveal could have been really interesting as well. But, alas, it's not what happened.
To address the other side of this coin, though, there are also a lot of players who claim that by picking a big, loud, colorful, or bizarre class or race that you are inherently less interesting as a character. This comes back to the Stormwind Fallacy (the idea that a mechanically optimized character cannot be roleplayed well, and vice versa), except that this time it's players arguing that the weirder, more unusual, or more inhuman a character is, the less roleplaying there will be as a result of that choice.
I would, instead, argue that the more inhuman, weird, or bizarre a concept or character is, the more opportunities you have to really embrace the things that make them strange and unique as characters.
Don't mind fluffy, he gets me where I'm going, and he's a friendly sort.
From the bizarre habits and comforts that inhuman characters have (such as a tiefling putting hot coals in his mouth to think, or an orc or goblin eating things that would never be acceptable to a human palate), to the bigger implications of their cultures, background, upbringing, and even their age, I fully endorse players getting as weird as a setting will allow and really stretching out into those roles.
As long as you're aware that what makes you interesting isn't the race on your sheet, or the levels you have in a given class. It's what you do with your character's personality, and how you make them stand out in meaningful ways that also bring the characters around them deeper into their orbit, and their story.
For more recommended reading and inspiration, check out some of the following:
- 100 Random Mercenary Companies: If you are, of have been, a mercenary, then you likely carry some specific gear, linguistic quirks, etc. from that life that could make other folks curious about who you served with. Other entries that might provide similar background information include 100 Knightly Orders as well as 100 Gangs For Your Urban Campaigns.
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Fluff post! If you've used this in your games, share a story down in the comments!
For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent 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!
If you're a gamer on any social media right now, then you've no doubt seen the firestorms surrounding the Why Orcs Are Problematicpost that's been going around. On one side of the argument you have players shouting, "We know, we've been saying this for years!" and on the other side of it you have players rolling their eyes and shouting back, "Orcs aren't even real, Jesus Christ not everything is racist!"
Artist's depiction of the comments section.
The problem here is that the argument is often couched in black-and-white, binary terms. Either orcs are problematic, or they're not. However, there's a lot going on beneath the surface, and a lot to think about. Not just in gaming in general, but also in terms of the fiction we draw on, the stories we tell, and the attitudes that are often baked-in with the games we consume.
So if you're looking for a deeper dive beyond the two options presented above (or if you're confused and looking for context) hopefully this Monday's post will help you out a bit.
But if that's not really your bag, well, my latest Critical Hits module from TPK just dropped this weekend, so you could go check out The Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh instead!
Seriously, go give it some love!
First Things First, What is an Orc?
Most of us already know the answer, so go ahead and say it with me! Orcs, as a creation of J.R.R. Tolkien were inherently evil humanoid creatures who served the dark lord and made up the ranks of his foot soldiers. They were corrupted, wicked, and they made up the muscle of the threat our heroes had to face.
Check out so far?
In their original incarnation, the orcs were symbolic as much as they were an actual threat to be dealt with. They were also monolithic; the orcs were a hoard, and there was no real, important difference between them. Some might be bigger, some might be meaner, some might be more skilled, but orcs were generally painted with a pretty broad brush. Which, one might argue, was one part of the initial problem.
The Depictions (And Evolution) of Orcs
Elements of this mythology maintained in Dungeons and Dragons' early days. Orcs were repulsive creatures who were brutal, violent, disorganized, and they typically worshiped/were bound to a dark god who demanded slaughter, sacrifice, and debased acts. While I would argue that maintaining a monolithic culture, and not giving orcs a great deal of depth were issues in the writing, the other issues actually came from their art in the early days.
And speaking of problematic art...
As was mentioned in the article, orcs were often depicted bearing weapons and armor inspired by non-European nations of the real world. Now, this was definitely fantasy, and there was no one issue of an orc carrying a kukri or wearing mirror armor that was a problem individually... it was the trend. It was the broad overall pattern that drew the battle lines in purely visual terms. Orcs were universally savage, brutal, and they carried weapons that bore a striking resemblance to India, China, Mongolia, and the Middle East. The heroes were drawing on the aesthetics and inspiration of Western European heroes, and so we have what might literally look like caricatures of East v. West.
Was that intentional? No, probably not. Just as Tolkien didn't state in his books that orcs were supposed to be based on any particular ethnicity or to represent any one group (though he did state in his letters he was drawing on specific ethnicities to make them seem more foreign to his projected European readers), the initial intent was probably not to say Europe good, non-Europe bad. Doesn't mean that's not how it came across, though.
Things got more problematic when orcs stopped just being corrupted evil beings and were given free will and choice. The creation of half-orcs (and eventually of orcs becoming PCs) meant that monsters who had once been entirely used for plot devices now had to become a varied and organic part of the world. But as we saw in Volo's Guide, as mentioned in the original article, there is still a clinging to the idea that all orcs are brutish, savage, and incapable of true empathy and understanding. They're always, at their core, monsters by their very nature. Inhuman. Other.
This becomes really problematic when you look at orcs as a big picture under those circumstances. Because if they can have children with humans, that raises questions of agency, of decisions, and of stereotyping. What was once a generic plot-filler threat is now an entire category made up of individuals who by the lore can be, do, and become what they want the same as any other character. Yet they're still treated as savage, backward, and lesser at the same time. That's frustrating for players who want to be orcs, but it also continues the trend of maintaining that problematic message.
Our Fiction Inherits Baggage (Whether Like It Or Not)
I grew up reading pulp fiction, and there is a breathtaking amount of racism and sexism in those stories. A lot of it was a product of its time, but many among us forget that the stories and tropes of that time didn't just get uprooted and replaced with shiny, new stuff that nixed the problematic descriptions. Many of these elements endured and maintained, until we didn't see them as products of prejudiced attitudes; they were just the way these stories were told.
Bob Chipman explained it particularly well using the trope of The Lost City.
For those who didn't watch it, the trope of The Lost City has its roots deep in European colonialism to Africa. Explorers would find these ancient ruins, and they would be flabbergasted that something like this could be found in Africa. They turned themselves inside out trying to explain it, ignoring the obvious that perhaps they were built by the ancestors of the people who still lived there. Nonsense! Black people could never comprehend the skill or ability it would take to build a castle, ridiculous!
And as Bob points out, that trope kept coming back over the generations. It existed in the time of the pulps, and early adventure fiction, it showed up in Indiana Jones, it was latched onto by games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted... it's a part of so many stories it would take a huge list to lay them all out.
Does that make all the stories who used this trope racist simply because they have their roots in a colonialist view? No, it doesn't. But it is important to hold these stories at arm's length, and ask what part of the original ancestor has survived and thrived in the current example, and how it was able to make it all the way into the modern incarnation. And, perhaps, what to do to fix it so that baggage doesn't weigh on the narrative.
For those looking for a real-world example, The Liberal Redneck Manifesto talks about the battle flag of northern Virginia... what a lot of people immediately think of as the Confederate flag. It was flown in a losing war, and then it was resurrected as a symbol of hate by organizations like the KKK, and by segregationists who wanted to cow and frighten black people. The flag became a symbol of several Southern musicians as well, and it was adopted by many who saw it as a rebel icon... the problem was that it still held all those older, more awful connotations for black people, and other ethnic minorities. So even if someone wears that flag because it's something waved around by a musician they like, or it's something they associate with family and good times at home, it's important to recognize that there's more to its legacy than the parts you've seen and know. You have to look at all of it, and at what message it sends to other people.
Oh, So Now It's Racist To Have Orcs as Bad Guys?
This is probably the dumbest thing I've seen come out of this conversation, so I'm going to address it here. It is not racist to have orcs as bad guys in your game. It's not racist to play an orc character. The issue arises when people ignore the history of how orcs have been depicted (and the real-life cultures often associated with them through their art, cultural trademarks, etc.), and when they don't put in the work of actually developing orcs in their settings.
There is no replacement for hard work.
As an example, I'm going to turn to Paizo's Golarion setting. When most people think of orcs in this world, they tend to think of the orc hold of Belkzen. This nation is a loose confederation of warring tribes who worship harsh and brutal gods, who value strength, and who were the foot soldiers of a powerful lich king who sought to conquer the world a handful of generations ago. They are, in a very real sense, one of the best takes I've seen on Tolkien's orcs as an organic part of a setting.
However, they are one of dozens of different settlements around the world, and each of them has their own unique culture, background, history, and feel in the context of the setting. The settlement of Averaka is a hard-working fishing village on a northern coast. Orcs and half-orcs in the Mwangi Expanse are often valued for their strength and durability, and they often hold important positions in tribes. Orcs in the deserts form their own familial groups, trading and intermarrying with others. Orcs and half-orcs have a wide variety of traits players and DMs can pick to customize them to a given area, but more importantly the lore of the setting makes it clear that attitudes, styles of society, etc. are a product of their history in a given area, rather than some in-born sameness that all orcs share.
That's the level of work it takes to make a sentient race a real, breathing part of a world and setting, and all of that has to carry through to how they're treated in the world as well. If a settlement is being raided by orcs, ask why, and build that into the adventure. Are they a war band who can't find a master, and they would rather take from the farmers than lay down their swords? Are they starving and pushed out to the edge of the badlands, so they have to steal in order to live? Is there a disagreement over the terms of a peace treaty, or are they mercenaries whose services have been bought by a bigger NPC with a hidden agenda? Is this a land-bound group of pirates looking to get back on the river, but they need the resources to repair their ship?
All of those are workable, and they add extra depth and meaning, allowing orcs to stand on their own as characters instead of as caricatures.
Lastly, Consider The Problematic Core of Many Adventures
Now, I know we're talking about orcs here, but this is something that Mark T. Hrisho brought up on his blog and I think it's a point worth adding to the discussion. Because a lot of our fantasy RPGs have another piece of baggage that has colored many of our monstrous races; mainly that if a given area of the map doesn't have people who look like our party living in it, then it doesn't really qualify as settled or explored territory. It is, instead, the edge of the known world, and the last edge of real civilization beyond which lives only darkness, and savagery.
Helmets on, I hear comments coming!
How many adventures have you played in tabletop RPGs, or even in video games, where you took on quests to "clear out" local monster infestations in the area? Caverns full of goblins, hills teeming with kobolds, mountaintop ogres, or the ever-present roving bands of orcs? If you've been in the hobby any length of time, you can probably think of several games that started you off this way.
And I'm not the first one to point out that in these scenarios we're basically barging into these creatures' homes, killing their families, and taking their stuff.
Even if it's not a job to kill a certain number of non-humans, these scenarios are often painted as, "protecting the light from the darkness of the savage lands," or something similar. Which basically states that none of the cultures of the other beings who call this region home, from the lizard men, to the catfolk, to the gnolls, are "real" people. They're just savages. Monsters. Little better than animals, and often not even worth as much XP.
Am I saying that fantasy RPGs who use this framework purposefully set out to be some kind of subliminal argument for the ideas of Manifest Destiny, or declarations in favor of colonialism? No. However, messages exist in fiction whether they're intended or not. Just like how early Disney princesses being damsels in distress wasn't likely intended to send the message to young girls that they had no agency and should wait to be rescued, but it can be argued that message is present regardless of the intention.
"Problematic" isn't a term reserved only for racial slurs and misogynist rants; it means that we need to look at the history of something, the messages within it, and how it came to be what it is. We need to be intellectually curious, honest with the history, and we need to understand that just because someone didn't intend something to send the wrong message, say the wrong thing, or to smuggle in an offensive attitude, that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Because it's only by looking these elements full in the face that we can make the games we love better, deeper, more complex, and in the end, less problematic.
And like I said in It's Okay To Admit There Are Problems in Your Hobby, you can like something problematic without being problematic by association. But we should all seek to be intellectually curious about these issues, and to remember that just because it may not affect us personally, that doesn't mean it's somehow not a real issue.
Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. 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!
Magic is one of the most useful resources in Pathfinder, but too often we end up letting our smaller spells sort of fall by the wayside, forgetting that our lower-level slots can still be useful even at higher levels of play. If you're looking for some ways to keep yourself (and your party) protected when crawling through dungeons and brawling through the bestiary, keep these simple spells in mind, as well as your daily preparations.
If you've ever played a paladin, then you understand exactly how invulnerable you feel when you can ignore the bite of a werewolf, or sneer at mummy rot because you are protected by a higher power. While getting permanent immunity to disease is tough, getting temporary immunity can be just as effective in the short-term.
Delay disease is a 2nd-level divine spell which also appears on the witch list as a 1st-level spell. Once cast it provides 24 hour protection against any disease taking effect on the target, and if there is already a disease present then the spell can halt it with an appropriate caster-level check. If you want to have something in place to keep your teammates safe before a dungeon delve, this is a solid one to keep in a wand and pass around before you kick in the door.
#2: Delay Poison
And I hit! What? Ah crap...
In the same boat as delay disease is another 2nd-level spell delay poison! This one only works for 1 hour per level, but it essentially stops the clock on any poison in someone's system (without a caster level check), and if someone is under the effects of this spell they can ignore any poison in their veins until it runs out. If you're high enough level that you have a lot of 2nd level slots to spare, this is a good one to keep on-hand, but even if you just have it in a wand for those rainy days when you need to stop a poison from spreading it's quite handy to have.
#3: Defending Bone
Don't worry boss, I got you!
Defending bone is a spell that is likely going to wind up on every character I ever play just for the way it looks. You animate either the femur bone or skull of a Medium-sized creature, and it floats around you. It interposes itself between you and physical attacks, granting you DR 5/bludgeoning. It lasts for 1 hour per level, and it will absorb 5 points per caster level with a maximum of 50 points before it gets turned to dust.
The most useful thing here is that the spell doesn't say you need to be aware of the attack for the bone to protect you. So if you're ambushed, or you have invisible rogues stabbing at you, the bone still interposes itself. Even better, if the DR negates an attack's damage entirely (say, a poisoned dart being fired from cover) then that will block any poison on the weapon as well.
#4: Protection From X/Y/Z
Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me...
Protection from evil, and the variants that apply to good, law, and chaos are basic, 1st level spells that show up on most spellcasting lists. When we initially take them it's usually the boost to armor class and saves that we consider most important, but the other effects of the spell are arguably a lot more important at later levels.
The first is that it protects you from enchantment (compulsion) and (charm) effects, making it basically impossible for a big villain to just reach into the fighter's head and turn him into a party-killing puppet if there's a protected alignment in play. The second is that it means summoned creatures whose alignment matches the protection spell can't make contact with you unless you first attack them. This can be a life saver when a high-level villain is depending on summoned monsters to tear you to pieces, but the demons, archons, or chaos beasts can't get within a foot of you due to a lowly 1st-level spell.
While you get the biggest benefits from casting it at your character level, this is one that's fine to put in potions for immediate battlefield consumption.
#5: Stone Shield
Oh boy, that's gonna be nasty!
Stone shield is an immediate action spell that essentially lets you earth-bend a slab of stone out of the floor, making it rise up to protect you. It grants you cover (+4 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Reflex saves), and it basically lasts 1 round, or until something destroys it.
Those are relatively small bonuses, but they can be very helpful in a pinch. Especially when you consider that cover bonuses can be a life saver against ray spells, when there are so few things that help improve your touch AC. Additionally, if you have cover from an enemy, they can't take attacks of opportunity against you, so this is a great method to both cover your butt, and get the hell out of a dangerous situation while maintaining your standard action to heal up, or to cast something bigger once you're at a safe distance.
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That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.
I have played under my share of dungeon masters, and I've seen a lot of old standby strategies that get the job done in the most frustrating, least fun way possible. As a dungeon master myself I have removed basically all of these strategies from my tables, and I've found only positive impacts in doing so.
And with so many of us trying to keep our games going digitally these days, I figured I'd take a moment to make some suggestions for strategies I'd recommend we all leave by the wayside.
You have the power. Use it responsibly.
#1: The 5-Foot-Step and Teleport
And they're gone again... what a surprise.
If you've ever played a Paizo adventure path, especially Rise of The Runelords, you are no doubt familiar with this tactic for preserving a recurring villain. You fight until the bad guy is seriously threatened, and then as the party closes in you take your 5-foot-step back, and poof, you teleport away to some safe location where the party cannot follow. The party wins, and they still have a villain out there to hunt down, right?
Wrong.
Though this tactic is effective at achieving its goal, it's cheap. There's almost no way to prevent it from happening, so the party gets robbed of a genuine victory because you put an unstoppable ace up your villain's sleeve. In my experience you can pull this stunt precisely once before your players start getting frustrated, wondering what's the point if you're just going to teleport out every time they get close to winning.
What You Should Do Instead
Instead of simply plucking your villain off the board with a magical deus ex machina, make them work for their escape. Have them turn themselves invisible and try to sneak off, for example, or make multiple, illusory copies of themselves and run out of different hallways. Or, if you're not averse to adding accessories to your table, get a chase deck. I seriously cannot say enough good things about this tool, and the Ultimate Chase Deck Bundle is the answer to your prayers as a DM.
You also need to remember that even if your bad guy doesn't get away, and the heroes win, so what? If the villain is important and dead, resurrect him and bring him back again. If he's captured, have him escape and come back for vengeance. And, as the Dungeon Keeper himself points out, you can even add a template for the next go round. Now the heroes are eager for a rematch, because you didn't rob them of their victory before, and very little has changed, mechanically.
#2: Fear Effects That Force You To Flee
Oh god, it's coming right for us!
Fear is a core part of most games, at least in theory. You can make an Intimidate check to force compliance, or to give an enemy a negative during combat. But there are some games that outright force you to flee from the source of your fear if you fail a saving throw against certain powers. Many a hulking bruiser or stalwart fight has been sent screaming from a battle from the glare attack of a deadly beast, or the scream of an undead haunt... but I guarantee you there is no faster way to piss off a player, and take them right out of your game.
The reason for this is two fold. First is the fact that a lot of players have characters who have seen some of the worst things the setting can offer, and they've stood toe-to-toe with monsters of all sorts. Fleeing, even under magical influence, makes them embarrassed because it's their characters being forced to act like cowards. Secondly, in practical terms, failing a save like this means the players may as well just take out their phone and wait for everyone else to finish the fight. Because if they have to spend three rounds running away, and then three more rounds running back, either the monster will be dead, or the party will be. Either way, they don't get to participate, and that's a serious problem.
What You Should Do Instead
If you really want to use fear specifically, focus on the kind of fear that gives PCs a negative, but which doesn't dictate their actions for them. Stacking debuffs onto that fear, whether it's a short-term spell or a long-term curse, is infinitely preferable to just not being allowed to participate.
And remember, just quoting a number at someone and saying, "So now you're scared," never brings a player deeper into the game; it just annoys them. If you actually want your players to be scared of a situation, you need to build the atmosphere and work for it. Using details like what you find in 100 Cults to Encounter or 100 Graves and Grave Markers For a Fantasy Graveyard is going to go a lot further than just demanding everyone make a save, and dictating to them how scared they should act.
#3: Actually, Ditch Mind Control in General While You're At It
No, really guys, I think they're friendly!
Another of the tools in your arsenal that is effective strategically, but which will torpedo enjoyment of your game, is mind control. Whether it's a basic enchantment that says, "You are now friendly toward this character," or something more complicated like the domination used by vampires or mind flayers, the effect is the same at the end of the day.
Players who came to the table to play the game are being told they can no longer participate because they failed a save.
In small doses, this is annoying. When done in more heavy-handed ways (such as turning the fighter against the party's spellcasters) it can seriously damage trust. Because while it's true that the wizard is dead because of what the villain did, part of the reason they got killed so effectively is because the barbarian built a wrecking ball. As such, at least some of that animosity is going to splash back onto the player, who had no say in the matter. It's messy, it's icky, and it ruins a lot of enjoyment.
What You Should Do Instead
Illusions. If you want to confound your players, or create bizarre and awful visions that might get them to act in ways counter to their own best interest, use illusions. Whether it's making innocent townspeople look like ravenous zombies, or the villain taking on the appearance of one of the party members to sow confusion, illusion magic sets off scenarios where the players (and only the players) decide how to move forward. And because the dungeon master isn't essentially puppeting the players, there's no chance of getting backsplash on each other if something really bad happens.
Enchantment is still a totally viable option, just don't use it to control the players' actions. Use it on important NPCs, like getting the mayor to turn against them Grima Wormtongue style. Poison the well of the town's goodwill if the party doesn't stop what's happening... but if you're going to pull a Bela Lugosi and have the fighter look deep into the vampire's eyes before he just goes and murders his comrades, that's going to lead to serious trust issues, and everyone playing paladins who are immune to compulsion effects from now until you get out of the DM chair.
#4: Slapping Unfixable Status Conditions Onto Your Party
Oh boy... that's going to leave a mark...
Managing your wounds and conditions is part of the game. Heroes go into dangerous situations, and those situations usually result in them coming out with some battle scars. Generally speaking, though, part of the game is managing your resources so you can reach the end of the line in one piece. How many healing potions do you have, what spells can you cast, and so on, and so forth.
The problem occurs when you hit your players with something that cripples them, and which they can't actually remove. That's bad enough if it happens for one fight, but if they're stuck with a status condition they can't get mitigate while they're in the middle of hostile territory, then you're basically setting them up to fail.
And that is a decision you made, as the DM.
What You Should Do Instead
The easiest way to negate this problem is to look at your players' capabilities, and to look at the thing you want to hit them with. If it's going to be a serious complication that could lead to them being totally ineffectual, and they can't actually remove it, then it's something you should either not use, or modify in some way.
For example, if you're using monsters that cause ability damage, and the party has a cleric who can heal said damage in short order, then it's a perfectly viable tactic. If the party is going to have plenty of time to rest after the fight, so the damage will heal itself naturally, that's also not a big deal. But if you're going to hit the fighter with Strength drain, for example, and the party is far too low level (or lacks a caster with the necessary spell) to undo that damage, you should either not use that tactic, or make it clear there's a way to get it back. Perhaps laying the vampire's ashes to rest releases the harm it's done, undoing the damage when the ritual is complete. A modification like this lets the players feel like they didn't get a freebie, but they also don't have to walk around with a big, fat, permanent negative that impedes a character's ability to do their job.
#5: Purposefully Negating PC Abilities All The Time
Well what are the odds? These ones aren't melee fighters either.
Generally speaking, characters in a party are going to be built to accomplish certain tasks. The ranged fighter riddles the enemy with arrows, the spellcaster uses magic, the holy warrior fights evil, the melee brute smashes things in hand-to-hand, and so on, and so forth.
Now, as a dungeon master you should totally change up the challenges your party faces from encounter to encounter so things don't get boring and samey. At the same time, though, it is extremely bad form as a DM to just throw stuff at your party that you know certain characters simply won't be able to engage with at all. Because, as with previous examples, you're just going to wind up with players who pull out their phones and wait for the people whose powers do still work to solve the problem.
What You Should Do Instead
Honestly, this is a complicated issue that's going to vary a lot based on who is in your party and what their capabilities are. But as a for-instance, say your party has a paladin. That paladin is geared to fight evil creatures, so when it's time to throw down with undead and demons, they're ready to go. In that situation there is absolutely nothing wrong with throwing golems, neutral mercenaries, or angry animals at the character. However, if the paladin never gets to cut loose with their holy powers and smite the wicked... well, shouldn't you have told them up-front to play a different character?
An occasional fight where the barbarian can't close with the flying enemy, or the archer is at huge negatives from the cover the enemy is standing behind is fine... but when that turns into every fight, it creates a serious problem. Which is why it's generally a good idea to make sure there is something for everyone to do in a fight... especially because it evens up the action economy.
So by all means, have a flying spellcaster hucking down lightning bolts from on-high. But while the sorcerer and the ranger are trying to shoot them down, add some big angry minions on the ground for the barbarian and the fighter to contend with. Now everyone's got a dance partner, no one feels left out, and the fight is far more epic than it was going to be.
Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. 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!
The Crew had been hard at work since they'd first been hired to work the job. It had been a simple smash and grab in a dungeon, and so the guild had scraped the bottom of the barrel to see who they could come up with. What they got was a bunch of do-most-dirty-job crooks and hard cases who got put together on a team, and told to go find a magic globe. A dragonborn deserter from the army who was always ready to bust heads, a kobold sorceress with a rap sheet longer than her tail, a tiefling warlock with a specialty in blackmail, and a half-orc who'd escaped from a prison colony on false papers, they were a motley bunch who were always hard up for cash. They didn't know what the globe was, and didn't really care, as long as they got their membership cut of the job when everything was said and done.
Will Work 4 Phat Lootz
They outdid themselves, and pretty soon that one job spiraled out into madness. The Crew found themselves on retainer to a secretive organization hunting magic items across the world, facing the marshaling forces of a dire threat from a forgotten world, and dealing with bloodthirsty assassins and fellow thieves around every corner. They even won a landmark court case at one point, as mentioned in That One Time The Party Solved The Plot With a Legal Battle.
Of course, the organization that employed them was run by a dragon, and as long as little pieces of his hoard made its way into their hands, the Crew was more than happy to keep fighting the good fight.
However, as with every campaign, we eventually hit a long, slow patch where schedules got disrupted, the DM was feeling stressed, and we were just having some trouble getting together at our usual time and place. When that happened the Crew was on an airship, flying toward an island of underground tieflings who worshiped the lord of shadows. So, to pass the time without losing the spirit of the game, the DM did something interesting...
He had us play HeroQuest... in game, and in-character!
The Best Game Ever Made!
While HeroQuest was a gateway to RPGs for most folks, my group hadn't really heard of it until we came across the above video from Bardic Broadcasts. And as you can see, it's the best commercial that was never made for the game. For those of you who haven't played HeroQuest personally, it's basically a tabletop fantasy board game that's one step down from a full RPG similar to the games Wrath of Ashardalon or Castle Ravenloft from Wizards of The Coast. You all take on roles of the barbarian, the dwarf, the elf, and the wizard, put into a dozen different scenarios that make up their own campaign. You contend with monsters, and the machinations of the evil wizard who sits behind the screen and attempts to lead the heroes to their doom.
Our DM had been searching for a copy of this old game for a while (they tend to go for a few hundred dollars at best, given that it's out of print), and he'd finally gotten his hands on one around the time the campaign hit a snag. So we all decided to let the campaign sit, and play HeroQuest for a while... but we were going to do it as our characters while we were in transit to the next part of the adventure.
And it was goddamn hilarious.
The green dragonborn took the role of the barbarian, and for a while did his best to roleplay the stalwart hero instead of the heavy-drinking, hard-partying skullcracker that he actually was. The kobold sorcerer grabbed the dwarf, adding new aspects to the character's backstory, and bringing in a slew of extended family members whenever one dwarf died. The half-orc monk took on the role of the elf, trying to use grace and flourishes but always falling back on smashing stuff in the face. Even the tiefling warlock occasionally dropped in as the wizard, who was without fail smoking a particularly large blunt in between flinging fireballs and lightning. All the while the game was being run by one of the goliath crew members on the airship, who suggested it as a way to pass the time on their journey.
The Game Within The Game
HeroQuest is a fun game all on its own, and if you can find a copy you should pick it up as long as the price isn't too unreasonable. But roleplaying characters who are, in turn, roleplaying other characters was a trippy experiment, and one that yielded some amusing moments. More than a few jokes between the PCs while they were sitting around the game board recurred even after the campaign picked up and kept going, which was particularly funny.
Every now and again we still do a time skip, and rewind to the HeroQuest scenarios. And I have a feeling that, once the actual campaign is over and the villain vanquished, our heroes will once again pick up their dice cups a flagons to find out just what sort of adventures they can have sitting around that table in the back of the tavern.
Next Time on Table Talk!
With so many games paused thanks to the pandemic, my Runelords tales are on-hold for the time being. But hopefully I can keep sharing a few amusing asides like this week's tale until we can finish out the last of that campaign. So stay tuned, and I'll see you next time on Table Talk!
For more of my work, check out my Vocal archives, as well as the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I help out from time to time. Or, to check out books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where
I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG
supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, to help support me and my work,
consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little donation can have a big impact.
I've been a Pathfinder player and DM for years, and I've seen a lot of players who like the idea of playing a spellcaster, but who simply cannot deal with all of the record-keeping involved with it. Whether it's the tome of potential that magi and wizards can wield, or the sheer volume of spells that clerics and warpriests can pray for, it's all a bit overwhelming. Even the "simpler" sorcerers and bards can be tough to track when you consider metamagic, rods, feats, and other abilities that may be added into the mix.
Whether you're someone who's looking for a tool to break through the wall, or you're a long-time caster main who'd just like a helping hand, I highly recommend trying out Spell Tracker as soon as possible.
Because once I get organized, it's over for all of you!
What is Spell Tracker?
The short version is that Spell Tracker is an app that does just what it says on the tin; it keeps track of the spells your character knows, the one's you've prepared that day, and it runs all the numbers for you regarding your saves, your attacks, your DCs, and all the fiddly little details that can be a pain to remember when the swords come out, and the magic starts flying. Most importantly, it shows you which ones you've cast, and keeps the full text and description of the spell at your fingertips so you never need to pause mid-combat to crack open a rulebook again!
Fail me some saves, boys!
Not only that, but Spell Tracker also keeps track of how many rounds your spells have been going on, giving you a clear image of which effects are enduring, and which ones are ending. When you add in that it can often act as an add-on for many existing character creation programs for Pathfinder, you've got an app that puts a lot of power in your hand, and which makes split-second casting decisions as easy as tapping your screen.
And if you're a fan of Improved Initiative, you can try the app out for free!
All you have to do is go to this special Spell Tracker link, and sign up! The first 10 people who sign up will get 3 free months, and everyone else gets 1 free month, as well as entry into a drawing for a free extension of their time with Spell Tracker Pro. Since so many of us are trying to keep our games alive, why not use a tool that really takes the guess work out of your casting?
Seriously, give it a try. You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain!
Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. 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!
